Global Device Shipments Will Grow 0.9 Percent in 2020

Worldwide shipments of devices, PCs, tablets and mobile phones, will total 2.16 billion units in 2020, an increase of 0.9% from 2019, according to Gartner. Last year, shipments totaled 2.15 billion units.

“2020 will witness a slight market recovery,“ said Ranjit Atwal, research senior director at Gartner. “Increased availability of 5G handsets will boost mobile phone replacements, which will lead global device shipments to return to growth in 2020.“

The worldwide mobile phone market is on course to grow by 1.7% in 2020. Shipments of smartphones were weak in 2019, recording a 2% decline year over year, but are expected to grow in 2020, particularly in Greater China and emerging markets in Asia/Pacific. Gartner estimates that 5G models will account for 12% of mobile phone shipments in 2020, and that will reach 43% by 2022.

Worldwide Device Shipments by Device Type, 2020-2022 (Millions of Units)

Even after experiencing a return to growth in 2019, PC shipments are still forecast to decline in 2020 and beyond. Through 2020, this market will be affected by the end of the migration to Windows 10. After three years of growth in the professional PC market, replacement levels will decrease.

In addition, there is a “long tail“ of upgrades from small and midsize businesses across emerging regions as they react to Microsoft’s withdrawal of support for Windows 7. Gartner estimates that one billion PCs will have migrated to Windows 10 through 2020, around 80% of all PCs in use.