Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft And Others Set To Lose As Gartner Predicts Demand Softness For Smartphones, PCs In 2022

China's economic slowdown and inflation-led drop in consumer spending will likely weigh on the global shipments of computers and smartphones in 2022, as per a Reuters story citing research firm Gartner.
Earlier this month, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc AMD warned against a slowdown in the PC market after two solid years. Analysts expected the chipmaker to gain market share amid odds.
Shipments to China, the leading smartphone market, will likely shrink by 18% due to the COVID-19 curbs that halted activity in key economic hubs, including Shanghai.
Gartner sees a 7% decline in global smartphone shipments (higher than the previous estimate of 2.2%), reflecting the impact of the supply chain crisis and the Russia-Ukraine conflict on demand.
Gartner expects global computer shipments to drop 9.5% in 2022.
Lenovo Group Ltd LNVGY, HP Inc HPQ, and Dell Technologies Inc DELL feature among the top three PC makers.
The demand softness will weigh on companies ranging from Nvidia Corp NVDA to Apple Inc AAPL and Microsoft Corp MSFT, likely to report second-quarter earnings starting July.
The smartphone and PC market immensely gained from the pandemic, which forced the world to stay home and work, study, shop, and pursue recreational activities online.