Analysis firm Omdia predicts that high memory prices will impact the PC market. Higher prices may curb growth again.
2025 was a relatively good year for PC manufacturers. The number of desktops and laptops sold saw an average increase of ten percent last year, mainly driven by desktops. The level of the corona peak in 2021 is far from being reached, but the market did have its best year since then. Nevertheless, Omdia, which compiled the figures, is cautiously looking ahead to 2026.
The reason lies not directly with the manufacturers. There is a memory crisis going on. AI companies are gobbling up all available memory chips rolling off the lines of the three major memory manufacturers Micron, SH Hynix and Samsung. This leaves little stock left for PCs, and consumers shouldn’t even think about getting their hands on loose RAM.
In the fourth quarter, there was a small rush for computers. IDC saw a global increase of 9.5% in the number of units sold during the fourth quarter. In the EMEA region, that was as high as 14 percent.
Rising prices
According to Omdia and IDC, this will have a snowball effect on the PC market in 2026. Manufacturers will have to pay more to get memory chips. You don’t need a master’s degree in economics to know that high demand and limited supply drive up prices. This trend had already started last year: RAM memory for PCs has become 70 percent more expensive in a year, with an expected price increase of another 50 percent this year.
Omdia predicts that end users will ultimately pay the bill. Several major PC manufacturers such as Dell, HP and Lenovo have already announced that their devices will become more expensive: Dell even introduced new prices as of January 1. This, in turn, may cause consumers and companies to postpone the purchase of new devices for as long as possible.
The manufacturers themselves remain optimistic. Omdia conducted a survey in November and 57 percent expect to sell more devices this year. They remain convinced that the end of Windows 10 will make the purchase of new devices a necessity, and who knows, those AI PCs may finally get off the ground. But it seems that every year there is an uncertain factor in the PC market.
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Lenovo leads
Within the market, there were no major shifts in the last quarter of 2025. Lenovo is strengthening its leading position and now accounts for approximately a quarter of global sales (25.8%; +14.4%). Behind perennial second-place HP (20.6%; +12.1%), Dell had a good year (16.7%, +26%), despite the company admitting that the name change of its portfolio was not a success.
In fourth place, Apple lost a little ground again (9.4%; +1.9%). On an annual basis, Lenovo (+14.5%) and Asus were the strongest growers (+13.4%) according to IDC’s figures.
This article originally appeared on January 13 and was supplemented with figures from IDC.