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orldwide IT spending for devices — PCs, tablets and mobile phones — is forecast to grow 2.4% in 2019, reaching $706 billion, up from $689 billion in 2018, according to Gartner.
Demand for PCs in the corporate sector has been strong, driven by Windows 10 PC hardware upgrades that should continue until 2020. However, the PC market may see some impact from the Intel CPU shortage. While this shortage will have some short-term impacts, Gartner does not expect any lasting impact on overall PC demand.
The current expectation is that the shortage will continue into 2019, but Intel will prioritise high-end CPUs as well as CPUs for business PCs. In the meantime, AMD will pick up the part of the market where Intel cannot supply. Research VP John-David Lovelock commented:
“PCs, laptops and tablets have reached a new equilibrium state. These markets currently have stable demand from consumers and enterprises. Vendors have only subtle technology differentiation, which is pushing them to offer PC as a Service in order to lock clients into multi-year recurring revenue streams and offer new bundles of service options”.
