Smartphones, gadgets, TVs, household appliances: 2022 of technology told in the Italian Tech special today on newsstands
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After a 2021 that brought with it all the signs of an exceptional period, with 2022 and the decrease in infections, the electronics market is returning to pre-pandemic levels. For PCs, for example, Gartner estimates 310 million devices sold globally, against 342 million in 2021 and 309 in 2020. This is still a positive figure, given that five years ago there were 262 million. Smartphones fare worse: according to Canalys data, global shipments in the third quarter of this year fell to their lowest level in eight years, and for the full year, sales fell 9% from a year earlier , with an estimated 296.21 million sets.
The relatively gloomy economic outlook has caused consumers to postpone the purchase of gadgets, to focus on essential goods and services. Thus, after six years of growth, the global consumer electronics market is expected to suffer a setback, going from 1,085 billion dollars in 2021 to 1,056 by 2022.
In addition to economic uncertainty, the scarcity of technological innovations weighs: 2022 will not be remembered as the year in which any revolutionary device was invented, which obviously does not mean that excellent products and services do not exist. They are, almost always, because they are evolutions of already existing products, and this is especially true for the three main sectors of the market, namely smartphones, PCs and household appliances.
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On the other hand, the pandemic has prompted us to reflect: forced within four walls, how would we have managed without technology? Without a computer to work, without televisions to watch films and series in streaming, without washing machines, vacuum cleaners and ovens to keep the house tidy and cook? The lockdowns have forced us to reconsider our relationship with appliances, furniture, and the home environment in general. But now companies need to regain consumer trust and convince them to spend again.
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And this is why there is a lot of talk about sustainability and intelligence, but even more about flexibility, modularity, upgradability, repairability. In short, everything that allows you to give value to an investment in technology, whether it’s a washing machine or a soundbar. Duration finally becomes an important parameter, in declared contrast to planned obsolescence policies: guarantees rise to five, ten, twenty years, even if for now, in the absence of precise legal constraints, they are mostly promises from manufacturers, who will have to be tested with facts. But it is comforting to see that people are starting to think ahead: on long terms with guarantees of up to twenty years (this is the case with some Samsung appliances), on the possibility of updating and repairing products (for example with Bang & Olufsen), on the commitment to make the various smart platforms communicate with each other (this is the year in which the Matter protocol for home automation was finally finalized).
In the face of an often higher initial cost, the advantages for the buyer are various: lower consumption, lower repair costs, reduced need for replacement due to obsolescence, higher value in the event of a second-hand sale. But will thinking about the distant future be enough to give the market a breather in the near future? We will know, according to experts and analysts, only towards the end of next year, when consumption should slowly recover.
Meanwhile, in our special free attachment to Repubblica, Stampa and Secolo XIX on newsstands, and also online, here is a selection of gadgets that the Italian Tech editorial team has chosen to remember this 2022. Objects that once again mark small and big changes in the our relationship with technology, even if perhaps they are not destined to mark our daily lives forever, and the first PlayStation or video cassettes. In the end, things pass, functions evolve, technology progresses relentlessly: change remains constant, and we call this change life.
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