Mobile phone, PC shipments to fall again in 2023: Gartner

Shipments of personal computers and mobile phones are expected to fall for the second straight year in 2023, with phone shipments slumping to a decade low, IT research firm Gartner said on Tuesday.

Mobile phone shipments are projected to fall 4 percent to 1.34 billion units in 2023, down from 1.40 billion units in 2022, Gartner said. They totalled 1.43 billion in 2021. That was close to the 2009 shipments level when Blackberry and Nokia phones were the market leaders as Apple tried to dent their dominance. The mobile phone market peaked in 2015 when shipments touched 1.9 billion units.

“The depressed economic market will continue to dampen demand for devices throughout 2023. In fact, end-user spending on devices is projected to decline 5.1 per cent in 2023,” said Ranjit Atwal, senior director analyst at Gartner.

“We do not expect relief from inflation and the bottom of the recession to occur until the fourth quarter of 2023,” Atwal added.

By the end of 2023, Gartner expects more than 25% of business PCs will upgrade to Windows 11. However, Windows 11 will not drive enough sales to reach the same volumes seen between 2020 and 2022.

The worldwide smartphone shipments may decline by 4 per cent in 2023. Smartphone shipments are projected to total 1.230 billion units in 2023, down from 1.280 billion units in 2022.

“Consumers are holding onto their phones longer than expected, from six to 9 months, and moving away from fixed to flexible contracts in the absence of meaningful new technology,” said Atwal.

In addition, vendors are passing on inflationary component costs to users which is dampening demand further. End-user spending on mobile phones is projected to decline by 3.8 per cent in 2023.

— Agencies