PC price cuts are coming as manufacturers rethink their portfolios

According to a recent IDC forecast, the PC and tablet markets are expected to shrink. Shipments for tablets and PCs will decline almost 12% in 2022, the research firm reported, and are expected to decline further in 2023. But excess inventory is already forcing suppliers to heavily discount products and shift from the premium segment to more mid-range products, the analysts said.

On the other hand, the report states that tablet and PC shipments will continue to remain above pre-pandemic levels. But uncertain economic conditions will threaten inventory and increase market saturation next year.

“The reality is that both PC and tablet makers will struggle in the coming months as not only are volumes expected to decline, but so will average selling prices,” Jitesh Ubrani, IDC’s research manager for mobility and consumer device trackers, said in a release. 

He also said that excess inventory of PCs and tablets are forcing manufacturers to heavily discount prices. And as long as there’s economic strife, products will stray away from premium functions to mid-range products.

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In October of this year, IDC reported that tablet shipments were down 8.8%, signaling the fifth straight quarter of the tablet market’s decline. This market contraction followed two years of massive growth, which can be mostly attributed to economic factors.

According to the IDC’s worldwide quarterly personal computing device tracker, traditional PCs will see shipments drop 5.6% to 281 million units in 2023 while tablets will decline 6.7% to 148 million units.

“The market is now experiencing not only a slowdown in demand, but also some strong macro-economic headwinds. Even though most tablets (Android) and Chromebooks are lower cost, we’re now seeing buyer concerns even at the low end. This is largely driven by these rising economic concerns,” Anuroopa Nataraj, senior research analyst with IDC’s mobility and consumer device trackers, said in a press release.

However, long term the hoped-for macroeconomic recovery could align nicely with other strong market drivers said IDC, as Windows 11 migration in conjunction with the next major education and home refresh cycles should propel growth from 2024.