Global shipments of PCs, tablets and mobile phones this year are expected to decline 13.6 percent year-on-year to 1.9 billion units, US market research firm Gartner Inc said in a report yesterday.
While PC shipments are forecast to fall 10.5 percent to 235.19 million from 262.71 million last year, the contraction in the overall PC market could have been much more severe, Gartner said.
“Government lockdowns due to COVID-19 forced businesses and schools to enable millions of people to work from home and increase spending on new notebooks, Chromebooks and tablets,” Gartner senior research director Ranjit Atwal said.
Shipments of tablets and Chromebooks are expected to decline at a slower 7.43 percent year-on-year to 133.26 million units, the report said.
The work-from-home trend is expected to continue after the pandemic eases, Gartner said, adding that up to 48 percent of employees are likely to work remotely at least part of the time, up from 30 percent before the pandemic.
The trend should lead to higher demand for notebooks rather than desktop computers until 2022, Atwal said.
Shipments of smartphones are forecast to fall 13.7 percent to 1.3 billion units by the end of the year, he said.
“While users have increased the use of their mobile phones to communicate with colleagues, work partners, friends and family members during lockdowns, reduced disposable income will result in fewer consumers upgrading their phones,” Atwal said.
Gartner said that it has downgraded its forecast, with 5G smartphone shipments only representing 11 percent of total phone shipments.
A lack of 5G geographical coverage along with the increased cost of 5G phone contracts is expected to affect consumers’ willingness to replace their 4G smartphones, Gartner research vice president Annette Zimmermann said.
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