Worldwide PC shipments expected to fall by almost 10 per cent in 2022

Worldwide PC shipments expected to fall by almost 10 per cent in 2022

Gartner has forecast that worldwide PC shipments will fall by 9.5 per cent this year.

The PC market is expected to experience the steepest decline of all device segments this year, the researcher says, with the EMEA PC market forecast to record a 14 per cent decline in 2022 because of a lack of consumer PC demand.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, price increases and unavailability of products due to lockdowns in China are significantly impacting consumer demand in the region, Canalys claims.

"A perfect storm of geopolitics upheaval, high inflation, currency fluctuations and supply chain disruptions have lowered business and consumer demand for devices across the world and is set to impact the PC market the hardest in 2022," said Ranjit Atwal, senior director analyst at Gartner.

"Consumer PC demand is on pace to decline 13.1 per cent in 2022 and will plummet much faster than business PC demand, which is expected to decline 7.2 per cent year over year."

Overall, global shipments of total devices (PCs, tablets and mobile phones) are on pace to decline 7.6 per cent in 2022, with Greater China and Eastern Europe including Eurasia recording double-digit declines.

Tablet sales are forecast to fall nine per cent, while mobile phone shipments are predicted to fall by 7.1 per cent.