TECH NEWS – The PC market is in a very difficult position, and the end of that metaphorical tunnel still looks a long way off.

Counterpoint Research has published its latest report on global PC shipments for the first quarter of 2026. Shipments grew by 3.2% year over year in Q1 2026, reaching 63.3 million units compared with 61.4 million a year earlier. That growth was driven by precautionary buying ahead of memory price increases reaching the retail market, as well as hardware refreshes triggered by the end of Windows 10 support. Lenovo, Dell, Apple, and Asus all posted shipment growth compared with last year, and their market shares also increased.

For 2026, the market’s resilience will be tested in earnest, with survival depending on whether OEMs can secure reliable supply chains while successfully shifting away from low-margin models toward more sustainable mid-range and premium portfolios. According to the data, most PC makers experienced growth in global shipments, with Asus and Apple leading the way through double-digit gains of 20% and 11% respectively. Lenovo and Dell also posted growth of 9% and 8%. Among the major brands, HP was the only one to decline, slipping by 5%, while smaller brands collectively fell by 7%.

PC manufacturers are finding it harder and harder to deliver value-oriented products to consumers, and despite launches such as Apple’s MacBook Neo and Intel’s Wildcat Lake, the situation is not improving because AI continues to devour memory, storage, and now even CPUs. Entry-level 8 GB DDR4 memory prices have surged by 110%, while entry-level 1 TB DRAM-less SSDs have jumped by 147%. Even larger price hikes have been recorded in higher-end categories.

Counterpoint estimates that DRAM prices will rise by another 60% in the coming months, while SSD prices could climb by a further 50%. As before, price movement will vary depending on the specific DRAM and SSD type. Another key factor is the rise of Windows 11 and the new Copilot+ ecosystem, which has prompted more hardware refreshes from chip manufacturers and coincided with a wave of new OEM launches. While the PC market is still expected to grow overall, the DIY segment has already seen a sharp decline, and with memory prices showing no signs of stabilizing, the entire market could become unprofitable in the second half of 2026 and early 2027 as mainstream buyers are pushed out of these price bands.

Source: WCCFTech, Counterpoint Research, Counterpoint Research – Memory Price Tracker