Computex 2022 is finally done after a month of laptop announcements. It's the Computex that wasn't in some ways.


It was an exciting moment to be a laptop reporter in the first half of this year. Big innovations were on the way, according to every corporation and their mother. From displays to phones, there were a plethora of bizarre gadgets on display. LG Display demonstrated a 17-inch foldable OLED screen (which supplied the 13.3-inch panel for Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Fold). We saw a lot of RGB, OLEDs, and haptics. Architectural advancements and performance advantages were promised by chipmakers. All of them, we were promised, would be arriving soon.


Computex, the year's largest laptop-specific trade expo, took place at the end of May. (Well, it was all of May — most firms simply did their own thing and released their releases whenever they wanted because many worldwide participants couldn't travel to Taiwan, but that's another story.) Please don't text me when I'm still healing from this month of constant announcements.) This would've been the ideal time for some of these ground-breaking disclosures to be made public. Alternatively, receive a release date.


However, they were not available at Computex 2022. In truth, the program was abrasively uninteresting. We received a slew of chip bumps. We obtained several monitors with a greater refresh rate. With smoother edges, we obtained an HP Spectre x360. (To be clear, I am ecstatic about the rounded edges, but I may be the only person on the globe who feels this way.)


Don't get me wrong: incremental improvements, both to internal specifications and to external aspects, are critical. They will have a significant impact on people's lives. Companies don't have to reinvent the wheel every time they produce a laptop. However, it's worth noting that a number of gadgets that appear to be on the verge of expanding or redefining their categories are still on the way (or if they are, I cannot find them listed for sale).


The following are some highly anticipated goods that have yet to arrive on my desk, after being launched earlier this year:


Asus's Zenbook 17 Fold OLED, which was first shown at CES and is expected to be released in Q2 of 2022. As of this writing, there are 25 days remaining in Q2, and we still don't have a definitive pricing. This is one of many suspected 17-inch foldable laptops for this year; Samsung showed one off at CES, and HP is said to be working on one as well. At Computex, we didn't see either.


It's not all doom and gloom. Some of the most anticipated items of 2022 have arrived on time, including Asus's ROG Flow Z13 gaming laptop. Companies, of course, depart from plans all of the time. However, I confirmed my suspicions with Gartner Research Vice President Stephen Kleynhans, and they appear to be correct: We're witnessing delays in PC shipments across the board, which is affecting releases. Of course, this isn't only a problem in the PC industry; sectors across the board, including the car industry, are experiencing delays.


According to Kleynhans, the delays are "mainly supply chain problems," with a huge part of the blame falling on China's present COVID situation, which has resulted in lockdowns in major tech hubs. "We're going to have interruptions on top of the disruptions that were previously there," Kleynhans told me, "until China genuinely opens up, which looks to be what we're seeing now, and it can catch up with the backlog that's been produced." PC availability would be restricted, he says, "at least in the summer and towards the end of the year."


According to Kleynhans, it's not only that enterprises are having difficulties getting current-gen equipment into their hands; it also has to do with the execution of last-gen orders. "If you have a customer who ordered 1,000 machines three or four months ago and hasn't gotten them yet," Kleynhans explained, "you don't want to release this year's model while those orders are outstanding." Current models are also experiencing delays, with several of Apple's most recent MacBook Pros having ship dates of late July or beyond. (Apple is said to be working on a new MacBook Air, and it will be fascinating to see if the firm can keep to its customary short-term availability.)


The PC market isn't the worst-affected (or most significant) industry when it comes to supply chain delays. If 17-inch foldable PCs wait longer to arrive than planned, the globe will continue to spin. And laptop delays are far from the most serious or widespread effect of the epidemic.


Nonetheless, this incident should serve as a reminder of a truism that is, honestly, always worth remembering: there are so many moving pieces in the computer world. Many things have to go right to get the laptop you're typing on and the laptop I'm typing on to our doorsteps (it's a Zephyrus G14, in case you're wondering). In the early part of the year, living in a world full with haptics, foldables, and 2X performance boosts is a lot of fun. However, the actual world is more difficult and tedious, and even the most innovative ideas have a constellation of logistical stars to align.