Demand for PCs and tablets continues to decline, forcing IDC to reduce an already-low forecast for the worldwide market.
According to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker, global shipments across both PCs and tablet will total 403.1 million units in 2023.
In December, IDC forecast 429.5 million shipments, so this is a major revision – some 26.4 million fewer than expected. 2023 shipments will be below 2019 levels.
Just 260.8 million PCs will ship in 2023, down 10.7 per cent, while tablets will drop 12 per cent to 142.3 million.
IDC do, however, see the market slightly picking up in 2024, predicting a modest 3.6 per cent leap, to 417.7 million units.
The return to offices is the only bright spot for the market, according to Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC’s Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers.
“Commercial demand, both from businesses and schools, will remain a bright spot throughout the forecast as hybrid work and 1:1 deployments in schools have permanently increased the size of the total addressable market,” Ubrani said.
“The sunsetting of Windows 10 is expected to drive PC refreshes in 2024 and 2025 while Chromebooks and Android tablets benefit from educational deployments and refreshes.
“Despite Apple’s slow and steady commercial gains in recent quarters, the company’s lack of broad adoption among commercial buyers will likely lead to Microsoft- and Google-based platforms outperforming Apple’s products over the next two years.”
Elsewhere, the year will be about “resiliency”, said Linn Huang, research vice president, Devices and Displays.
“Surplus inventory, declining demand, and receding macros will continue applying negative pressure on both volumes and ASPs, before returning to growth mode in both departments in the subsequent two years.”
