Spending will fall by 1.3 percent in 2015 to $3.66 trillion (€3.4 trillion), according to technology research group Gartner.
Devices including printers, mobile phones, tablets and PCs are forecast to suffer cuts of 1.2 percent to $685 billion (€637 billion), Reuters reported. PC purchases in Russia, Western Europe and Japan are down as local currencies weaken against the dollar.
Gartner was predicting a growth of 2.4 percent a quarter ago before the “currency shock” of the recent rise in the value of the dollar.
John David Lovelock, Research Vice President at Gartner, said: “This is not a crash, even if it looks like one. Taking out the impact of exchange rate movements, the corresponding constant-currency growth figure is 3.1 percent.”