Isolation saved the PC market, but the future supply will shrink

Global shipments of personal computers, tablets and smartphones will decline this year by 13.6% and will amount to 1.9 billion units, according to the latest forecast by Gartner.

the Researchers note that the decline in the PC market, in particular, could be much worse, but the shift to remote work and training has led to an increasing demand for laptops and tablets. Educational institutions and government agencies also increased spending on the purchase of these devices.

it is Expected that in 2020, the PC shipments will decline by 10.5%. It is projected that the supply of laptops, tablets, and chromebooks in 2020 will decline more slowly than the PC market.

In Gartner believe that 48% of employees are likely to telecommute, at least part of the time after the decline of the pandemic, compared with 30% before the spread of coronavirus. Overall, working from home will force IT departments to buy a greater number of laptops, tablets, and chromebooks, according to analysts. This trend will allow the office laptops to supplant desktops to 2021-2022 years, consider Gartner.

it is predicted that mobile phone shipments will decline by 14.6% in 2020, while smartphone shipments will fall slower at 13.7% yoy and reached 1.3 billion units in 2020.

the Use of mobile phones for communicating with colleagues, partner organisations, friends and families during the quarantine has increased, but the decrease in income will lead to the fact that fewer people will upgrade their devices. As a result, the lifetime of the phone will increase from 2.5 years to 2018, to 2.7 years in 2020, analysts said.

Earlier it was expected that available phones with support of networks of the fifth generation (5G) will contribute to accelerating replacement cycles for old gadgets in new, but this will not happen this year. Currently, it is projected that in 2020, the 5G phones will account for only 11% of the total supply momobile phones.

the Delay in supply of some flagship phones with 5G is still a problem, say the experts. The lack of geographic coverage 5G along with the increase in the value of the contract for 5G phones will affect the selection, the researchers conclude.

overall, spending on gadgets with 5G will be reduced in most regions, with the exception of China, where we expect continued investment in 5G infrastructure that will enable service providers in China to effectively sell phones with 5G.