What They Say
Gartner issued a press release with its forecasts for PCs, tablets and smartphones and added to the gloom by forecasting volume declines of 9.5%, 9.0% and 7.1% with an expectation of 2.065 billion units over the year, down 7.6%.
Looking at smartphones alone, rather than all phones, the decline was 5.8%. Regionally, Greater China has been leading the adoption of 5G phones over the last two years. However, the collapse of the smartphone market in the region will mean a 2% decline in 5G phone shipments in China in 2022, after growing 65% in 2021. Globally, the segment will still grow by 29% from 2021 to reach 710 million, down from an expected growth of 47% at the beginning of 2022.
Consumer PCs are expected to drop by 13.1%, versus a 7.2% drop in commercial PCs.
What We Think
Oh, dear, this will only add to the gloom in the supply chain. As usual, when the market is constrained by demand, the forecasts are much harder to get correct than when they are constrained by supply. (BR)
