What They Say
IDC expects PC shipments to be weak this year, falling by 8.2% from 2021 to 321.2 million units. Tablets are expected to decline by 6.2% to 158 million units. That will still leave shipments above pre-pandemic levels. Commercial demand remains robust and there is still uptake in emerging markets that will help growth.
PCs are expected to recover, but tablets will remain under pressure from notebooks and smartphones.
Supply chains continue to add to the difficulties this year.
What We Think
The long term trend for WFH will mean that the overall installed base has and will grow for PCs. Perhaps people had been forgetting how valuable they were until Covid? It was the mid-80s when I first coined ‘Bob’s Law’ (if Moore had one, I wanted one, too)
“Everyone that buys a PC always buys another”
Although the definition of PC these days would probably have to include tablets or even smartphones, I still think it’s true. I have never met anyone that said that they had tried it and given up again, although I do have some relatives that really still can’t use a computer properly after decades! (BR)
Worldwide Personal Computing Device Forecast by Product Category, Shipments, Year-Over-Year Growth, and 2021-2026 CAGR (shipments in millions) |
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Product Category |
2022 Shipments |
2022/2021 Growth |
2026 Shipments |
2026/2025 Growth |
2021-2026 CAGR |
Traditional PCs |
321.2 |
-8.2% |
339.0 |
+0.1% |
-0.6% |
Tablets |
158.0 |
-6.2% |
152.5 |
-0.7% |
-2.0% |
Source: IDC Worldwide Personal Computing Device Tracker, June 8, 2022 |