The big moving picture: Worldwide PC shipments are expected to abound fourteen.2 percent to reach an estimated 347 one thousand thousand units in 2022 according to International Data Corporation. While that might audio impressive at first, the figure is actually down from the research firm's May forecast of 18 percent growth for the full year due to sustained supply chain and logistics challenges stemming from the global pandemic.

It's a like story on the tablet side, as the market is also expected to grow this year, albeit at a much slower charge per unit of merely 3.4 per centum.

Ryan Reith, program vice president with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers, said the lengthening of the supply shortages combined with ongoing logistical issues are presenting some pretty large challenges for the industry.

That said, IDC maintains that the vast bulk of PC need is "non-perishable, especially from the business and education sectors." In other words, the demand isn't likely to diminish anytime presently. That's skilful news for PC makers (at least in the curt term), and goes against what was expected before the pandemic.

In its last pre-pandemic forecast from Nov 2022, IDC projected roughly 367 meg units would be shipped in 2023. Today, that figure now sits just northward of 500 million units.

"So how much is that compute centricity worth?" asked Linn Huang, research vice president, Devices & Displays at IDC. "A simplified view would propose nigh 135 million units or 37% more than the original market forecast" Linn said.

Ultimately, IDC is expecting consumer spending to rebalance by 2025. Areas that saw lowered spending during lockdown, like travel and leisure, should abound over the coming years as spending on technology regresses. This will inevitably lead to a market slowdown, although shipments are still expected to exist higher than forecasted before the pandemic.