PC shipments just grew unexpectedly amid RAM shortages

The PC marketplace is bracing for a turbulent twelvemonth ahead, but shipments managed to transcend expectations successful the caller vacation quarter. IDC reports that shipments grew astir 10 percent year-over-year successful the 4th fourth of 2025, reaching 76.4 cardinal successful total.

Microsoft’s end of Windows 10 support undoubtedly helped push PC shipments up, but IDC notes that PC makers person besides been aggressively pulling guardant inventory to combat imaginable tariffs and the world representation shortage.

“While the vacation play typically drives stronger demand, the surge successful precocious 2025 was further amplified by emerging representation shortages that led buyers and brands to unafraid inventory up of anticipated value increases successful 2026,” says IDC.

RAM and NAND / SSD prices person surged successful caller months owed to shortages created by AI information halfway demand. PC makers for illustration Lenovo and HP person been stockpiling memory, but those stockpiles will apt tally retired successful a fewer months clip and lead to accrued prices and perchance moreover PC configuration changes.

“Beyond the evident unit connected prices of systems, already announced by definite manufacturers, we mightiness besides spot PC representation specifications beryllium lowered connected mean to sphere representation inventory connected hand,” says Jean Philippe Bouchard, investigation vice president astatine IDC. “The twelvemonth up is shaping up to beryllium highly volatile.”

IDC is now expecting mean trading prices of PCs to emergence successful 2026 arsenic PC makers displacement privilege to midrange and premium systems to offset the higher costs of memory. All of this points to an AI-driven large wind for the PC marketplace passim 2026. If you’re reasoning astir buying a caller PC, it mightiness beryllium amended to make the acquisition sooner alternatively than later this year.