Shipments of devices — PCs, tablets and mobile phones – will grow at 0.9 percent to 2.28 billion units in 2018, according to the latest forecast from Gartner.
The PC and tablet market will decline 1.2 percent in 2018. Mobile phone market will grow at 1.4 percent.
The PC market is hindered by the undersupply of the DRAM market due to the lack of new wafer capacity coming online.
“As a result, PC vendors will continue to increase their prices throughout 2018,” said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner.
The next major shift in the PC market will be marked by the end of support for Windows 7 in January 2020.
China accounts for over 20 percent of global spending on devices, so any changes occurring there can have a significant ripple effect globally, Gartner said.
Mobile phone shipments will reach nearly 1.9 billion units in 2018. Mobile phone shipment in China will grow at 3.3 percent in 2018, representing 23 percent of total mobile phone sales this year. Mobile phone sales in China fell 8.7 percent in 2017 to 428 million units.
The traditional PC market in China will drop 1.7 percent to 38.5 million in 2018, accounting for 21 percent of global traditional PC shipments.
The roll-out of a Chinese version of Windows 10 in the second half of 2018 as well as Apple iPhone’s replacement cycle expected through 2019 will generate demand in China.
