Acer is warning about a looming problem with laptops, although this won’t affect consumers at first, on the contrary. An oversupply of laptops on the market could drive prices down.
Acer warns of laptop oversupply, prices will drop
During the pandemic times, desktop and notebook PC manufacturers struggled to meet demand, but now that that period is over, demand is dropping.
Store shelves are now almost full, and PC demand has slowed due to inflation and uncertainties caused by the war in Ukraine. As a result, Acer president Jason Chen warned that an oversupply of notebooks is looming.
The oversupply will drive laptop prices down, but it will also affect companies’ numbers, as products with lower profit margins will be sold.
According to IDC, weak consumer PC demand will reduce shipments in 2022 by more than 8% compared to last year. Desktop and notebook PC shipments reached 348.8 million units last year, but this year that number would fall to 321.2 million units.
Demand began to outstrip supply in the second quarter of 2020, a period when manufacturers began buying components and building up large amounts of inventory. Now that demand for consumer computers is falling (though not to pre-pandemic levels), their inventories are becoming passive, as oversupply causes prices to fall.
This benefits users, who should see a reduction in prices, but will also lead to lower revenues for manufacturers. Acer mentions that the supply of notebooks has already exceeded the demand. Firms like Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI would be in the same situation. We will keep you posted on the news.