The PC market is bracing for a turbulent year ahead, but shipments managed to exceed expectations in the recent holiday quarter. IDC reports that shipments grew nearly 10 percent year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2025, reaching 76.4 million in total.
Microsoft’s end of Windows 10 support undoubtedly helped push PC shipments up, but IDC notes that PC makers have also been aggressively pulling forward inventory to combat potential tariffs and the global memory shortage.
“While the holiday season typically drives stronger demand, the surge in late 2025 was further amplified by emerging memory shortages that led buyers and brands to secure inventory ahead of anticipated price increases in 2026,” says IDC.
RAM and NAND / SSD prices have surged in recent months due to shortages created by AI data center demand. PC makers like Lenovo and HP have been stockpiling memory, but those stockpiles will likely run out in a few months time and lead to increased prices and potentially even PC configuration changes.
“Beyond the obvious pressure on prices of systems, already announced by certain manufacturers, we might also see PC memory specifications be lowered on average to preserve memory inventory on hand,” says Jean Philippe Bouchard, research vice president at IDC. “The year ahead is shaping up to be extremely volatile.”
IDC is now expecting average selling prices of PCs to rise in 2026 as PC makers shift priority to midrange and premium systems to offset the higher costs of memory. All of this points to an AI-driven storm for the PC market throughout 2026. If you’re thinking about buying a new PC, it might be better to make the purchase sooner rather than later this year.
