Fewer PCs shipped worldwide last quarter than at almost any point in the past three years. Demand didn’t disappear: memory and storage costs pushed prices up. If a laptop or desktop refresh is in next year’s budget, the numbers you priced last spring are probably out of date.
What happened
The two biggest PC market trackers released their third-quarter numbers this month:
- IDC (October 8) reported 62.7 million PCs shipped worldwide, down 20.1% from a year earlier.
- Gartner (October 12) counted 55.4 million units, down 22.4%, and said shipments are back to levels last seen in early 2023.
The firms count differently, which is why their totals don’t match. Their conclusions do. Gartner said “the impact of higher memory and storage costs is now fully reflected in PC pricing.” IDC also pointed to companies buying early in the first half of the year to get ahead of price increases, leaving fewer buyers later in the year.
The cause is the one we’ve been watching all year. Memory makers are putting more of their production into chips for AI data centers, so less is left for ordinary PCs and servers. Research firm TrendForce expects contract prices for conventional DRAM (the working memory in PCs and servers) to rise another 10–15% this quarter, and NAND flash (the chips inside SSDs) to rise 15–20%. Those are prices that large manufacturers pay, not retail prices, but they tend to show up on your quotes sooner or later.
What it means for you
Don’t expect prices to fall back soon. IDC said it doesn’t expect PC prices to return anywhere near year-ago levels, and it expects conditions to get worse before they improve. Some retailers may run promotions to clear stock, but that isn’t a trend to build a budget on.
The lowest-cost models are hardest to find. Gartner said manufacturers are prioritizing their scarce components, which has reduced the supply of lower-cost devices. The entry-level configuration your standard build was based on may cost more than it used to, or it may not be available at all.
Businesses are buying more selectively. Gartner noted that business spending has moved toward targeted purchases, such as workstations and AI PCs, rather than replacing whole fleets at once. It’s a reasonable approach, as long as it’s a decision and not just the default.
Servers and storage are affected too. Anything with a lot of memory or flash in it is getting more expensive, so infrastructure projects need updated quotes as well. A spreadsheet from March is now a historical document.
Your options
You can buy what you need now, before prices rise further, if the budget and the need are both real. You can stagger the refresh, replacing the oldest and most critical machines first and extending the rest. Or you can extend the life of current hardware with memory or SSD upgrades, repairs, or extended warranty and support coverage. Each option has trade-offs, and the right mix depends on how old your fleet is, how much risk you can live with, and when your budget cycle closes.
What we recommend
- Re-quote your 2027 refresh now. Don’t rely on pricing from earlier in the year.
- Rank devices by age and how critical they are. Replace the machines that are actually failing or slowing people down first.
- Be flexible on specs. Look at a few equivalent configurations, and more than one manufacturer.
- Check warranty and support dates. Extending coverage on good hardware can cost far less than replacing it.
- Include servers and storage in the review. They’re exposed to the same memory and flash costs.
How DTM can help
Because we’re vendor-neutral, we can compare equivalent configurations across a broad range of manufacturers and show you what’s actually available, not just what’s on a spec sheet. Your dedicated DTM contact can help you plan purchases in phases, find out what extending current equipment would cost, and keep your quotes current as prices change.
Planning a refresh, or wondering whether to wait? Get in touch and we’ll help you work out the numbers.
Market figures are preliminary estimates from the firms cited, and pricing and availability can change quickly.