Beancounters at Context think that mobile computing devices sales should pick up soon with supply problems expected to ease in the second half of the year.
Context expects continued improvement in supply as the industry moves deeper into the second half of 2022.
Context senior analyst Marie-Christine Pygott said that some products that have been in transit for many months are outdated by the time they arrive. Russia’s war in Ukraine and additional COVID lockdowns in Asia have added to supply chain headaches and costs.
“However, there are some positives. Windows 11 migration will drive more PC sales in the second half of the year, as may an increased appetite for more sustainable and secure products”, she added.
Context sees supply improving but gains offset by the impact of inflation on demand and a gap between the products available and those in demand by customers. In that situation, the mobile segment would produce low positive growth by the fourth quarter, while desktops would improve, but not manage to break through to positive growth this year.
The other, more positive, scenario outlined by Context would witness improvements in supply and demand, price drops and excess stocks selling out. Economic factors would not destabilise mobile computing growth, which would see unit sales possibly going from -7.1 percent in the second quarter of 2022 to 10.9 percent in the third quarter, before stabilising in the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, second-quarter figures from Canalys indicated that the global PC market, which includes tablet shipments, fell three percent annually in the first quarter of 2022 to 118.1 million units. That dip was good when compared with pre-pandemic numbers, and shipments are still in a good position, with a three-year compound annual growth rate of 12 percent from the first quarter of 2019.
A drop in educational spending hit Chromebook shipments and numbers were not helped by the saturation of the Japanese and US education markets, and a slowdown in consumer spending following the COVID-19 demand spike,. Nevertheless, Chromebooks still had an impressive first quarter when viewed in the wider context of historical performance, and growth is set to return as developed markets undergo refresh cycles in coming years.”
