Analyst firm Gartner Inc. forecasted Thursday worldwide mobile phone sales to plummet 7.1% this year, revising its earlier projection of 2.2% growth, as a result of inflation, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Chinese lockdowns.
Shipments of mobile phones are anticipated to decline to 1.46 billion units in 2022, down from 1.57 billion and Gartner’s earlier prediction of 1.60 billion.
“I have taken out about 150 million mobile shipments out of the forecast and what that says to you is the lifetimes (of mobiles) are increasing,” Ranjit Atwal, senior director analyst at Gartner, said in an interview with Reuters.
Gartner also expects a 9.5% reduction in PC shipments worldwide in 2022, down from its previous projection of a 4% drop.
