Whether you like it or not, 2025 could be a rough year, and not for the reasons you suspect. Businesses like yours might have a hard time with hardware acquisition, among other issues forecast by industry professionals. Today, we want to address some of the most significant issues on every industry insider’s mind.

Be Prepared for Sky-High Hardware Costs

Regardless of your politics, the Trump administration has been quite vocal about its upcoming tariffs… tariffs that will impact the price of computer components and accessories.

Tariffs are supposed to prompt domestic manufacturing and purchasing of goods by making foreign-made goods less cost-effective to import. The issue: these price increases are passed along to the consumer. Considering the administration’s past experience with Chinese tariffs (ranging from 7.5 percent to 25 percent), it’s expected that PC components, supply chain disruptions, and hardware shortages will be much more prevalent this time around.

Prior shortages and price increases were also influenced by several factors, like cryptocurrency mining and the COVID-19 pandemic, but a key fact is that prices did not stabilize until the tariffs were lifted, after which prices diminished to pre-tariff levels.

This new batch of tariffs could reach a minimum of 10 percent to 20 percent, and potentially reach as high as 60 percent for China. Consumers can expect a cost increase of hundreds of dollars. Since the modern supply chain is so globalized, even pieces of hardware manufactured elsewhere that require components made and shipped from China could be made much more expensive as a result.

While the tariffs are intended to promote domestic manufacturing, it would be difficult—if not impossible—to shift the burden of this to the country’s current infrastructure.

If you must make hardware purchasing decisions for your business, you should do so now before tariffs make it harder and more expensive for you to do so.

The Great Siloing of the Internet

There has been a significant decrease in the popularity of large social platforms in favor of smaller communities.

For example, millions of X users have left in favor of Bluesky and Discord servers or subreddits for specific topics and communities. There isn’t necessarily anything bad about this situation, but it’s still important to consider the course of any information you find online. Make sure you check facts to avoid biased reporting or straight-up disinformation.

Above all else, pay attention to how you (and your customers) behave online and consume content, as this could dramatically change in the future.

Keeping the Kiddos Safe

In the future, you can expect certain harmful products, platforms, and applications deemed addictive will be limited.

Although the United States has effectively made no new progress in this arena, other countries have taken steps to limit children’s access to social media. As of November 2024, Australia has banned social media for all those under 16. This ban comes at a time when more social platforms than ever are incorporating AI into the user experience and slashing user protections.

Businesses, particularly smaller organizations, might have to work harder to reach their prospective customers—especially as platforms grow overwhelmed by the slew of content they’re trying to avoid.

Let’s Work Through These Future Changes Together

Whether you’re sure about the future or stumbling forward in the dark, know that Compudata is here to help you make the best, most educated decisions possible for your IT infrastructure. To learn more, call us at 1-855-405-8889 today.