IDC: Tablet and PC Shipments to Drop Through 2022

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

10 JUNE 2022 - Shipments of tablets and PCs are expected to drop through 2022. That’s the thinking of market tracker IDC, according to a piece from CNET. If you’re wondering why, it’s pretty much the same set of factors driving down sales of smart speakers. Pretty much.

Strategy Analytics said earlier this week that the war in Ukraine, component shortages, and the ongoing pandemic were tanking smart speaker sales. For tablets and PCs, IDC blames inflation, the war in Ukraine, and COVID lockdowns in China. It’s not exactly the same list, though the firm lumps supply constraints in with those supply chain lockdowns. Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC, is quoted in the piece saying:

Supply shortages have plagued the industry for a while, and the recent lockdowns in parts of China continue to exacerbate the issue as factories struggle to receive new components from upstream suppliers while also facing issues downstream when it comes to shipping finished goods…

The firm expects global shipments of tablets to fall a little over 6%. For traditional PCs, IDC expects the fall to be a little over 8%.

Bad as all that sounds, it could be worse. IDC believes PC shipments will “remain above pre-pandemic levels and will experience growth in 2023,” according to CNET. So it actually sounds like four factors in play: Inflation, the war, COVID-exacerbated shortages, and tough compares.

Sometimes it bums me out that I won’t be around 100 years from now to read the history of now.