The specter of value hikes attributable to the present AI-driven demand for reminiscence and storage seems to have satisfied a justifiable share of individuals to purchase a brand new pc. Based on information analyzed by Counterpoint Analysis, international PC shipments grew round 3.2 p.c year-over-year in Q1 2026, “pushed by pre-emptive shopping for earlier than memory-led value will increase hit the retail degree” and Microsoft forcing some clients to improve by ending assist for Home windows 10 final 12 months.
Gross sales hit 63.3 million models in the course of the first quarter, Counterpoint says, and had been significantly concentrated in 5 high-end PC makers: Lenovo, ASUS, Apple, HP and Dell. Of the 5, Lenovo instructions probably the most PC market share at 26 p.c, however gross sales elevated for nearly all the corporations, save for HP, whose year-over-year gross sales technically declined by 5 p.c. Of explicit notice, Apple’s PC gross sales grew by 11 p.c, doubtless on the energy of the M5 updates it made to the MacBook Professional and MacBook Air, and the introduction of the reasonably priced $600 MacBook Neo. Counterpoint suggests the updates may drive even additional gross sales progress subsequent quarter.
Even with constructive gross sales, the PC trade as a complete is not at all out of the woods. “The aggressive growth in AI infrastructure funding is driving up total part prices, which is able to doubtless affect the pricing of CPUs and different key parts in [PCs],” Counterpoint Senior Analyst Minsoo Kang says. “Finally, the sustained upward stress on prices and the ensuing hike in retail costs are anticipated to have a big destructive affect on the PC market’s progress in 2026.”
A normal sense that the worst is but to come back is per what different analysts have warned in regards to the present shortages of RAM and storage. In December 2025, IDC predicted that PC shipments may drop as a lot as 8.9 p.c in 2026 in response to the value of RAM, and later revised its prediction to 11.6 p.c this previous March. Even when customers aren’t feeling the worst of those value hikes simply but, new bulletins of value will increase appear to reach like clockwork each few weeks — for instance, this week, Meta raised the value of its Quest headsets — which suggests if they are not feeling them now, they’ll quickly.
