US tariffs forcing us to pay more for tech gadgets
The US tariffs announced by president Donald Trump will mean we have to pay more for smart phones and other popular tech gadgets. “Consumers are likely to feel a significant pinch from these tariffs. We anticipate increased costs for popular tech like iPhones and earbuds, with potential ‘collateral’ price hikes for PCs due to component sourcing”, says Crawford Del Prete, president of market research form International Data Corporation (IDC).
“Beyond price, expect supply chain disruptions leading to limited product selection and potential delays. While not immediate, long-term infrastructure investments in servers could also slow, eventually impacting service performance and new feature rollouts for consumers”.
“The 90-day delay on tariff implementation has left the global economy mired in uncertainty, at least until the second half of 2025”, Stephen Minton, IDC group vice president says.
He adds that updated forecasts indicate that tariff uncertainty is already impacting business conditions in North America, leading to a decrease in baseline IT spending forecast.
The company recently reported that the tariffs are affecting commercial forecasts. Referring to US tariffs on China and a weakening consumer market, IDC is downgrading its forecast for PC sales this year and beyond. Sales of tablets are expected to shrink.
Global PC volume is now expected to reach 273 million in 2025, still growing +3.7% over the prior year though this is a slight reduction from the prior forecast. Beyond 2025, IDC forecasts sub 1% growth each year through 2029 for the traditional PC market. This is explained by volume stabilisation when many have upgraded to Windows 11 migration.
Tablets are not expected to fare much better as shipments are anticipated to shrink 0.8% in 2025 to 143.3 million and the market faces a slight gradual decline, reaching 141.6 million units by the end of 2029 due mostly to consumer saturation, IDC says.
“Price hikes stemming from tariffs in the US combined with subdued demand are leading to a negative impact within the largest market for PCs,” says Jitesh Ubrani, IDC research manager.
“However, the weakness amongst consumer demand is universal as macro issues persist. There are still some silver linings though: workstation volume should remain healthy, along with near-term tablet demand in China boosted by consumer subsidies.”
The company forecasts that commercial and school renewal projects will be the biggest driver for 2025. In keeping with past Windows PC refresh cycles, IDC expects firms to largely continue Windows 11 PC purchases through 2025, although budgets and other constraints will leave some to choose in-place upgrades or pay for extended Windows 10 support.
IDC expects a more robust ecosystem to emerge by late 2025, leading most new PCs to be GenAI-capable by 2026.
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