If you bought a new laptop or desktop over the past few months, you were part of a big wave of people doing the same thing. The reason? Everyone is trying to avoid higher prices caused by the AI boom.
New numbers from Counterpoint Research show that PC shipments around the world went up by 3.2% in the first 3 months of 2026. That is compared to the same period last year.
In total, companies shipped 63.3 million units. The main driver was people buying computers before memory and storage became more expensive. Another reason was Microsoft ending Windows 10 support, which forced some folks to finally upgrade.
Most of the sales went to five big names: Lenovo, Apple, ASUS, HP, and Dell. Lenovo still has the biggest piece of the market at 26%. But not everyone did well. HP actually sold 5% fewer PCs than last year. Apple did well this quarter, with sales up 11%. That was likely because of their new M5 chips in the MacBook Pro and Air, plus the cheaper $600 MacBook Neo. Counterpoint says these new models could help Apple sell even more next quarter.
But the PC industry still has problems. A senior analyst at Counterpoint said that companies are spending a lot of money on AI infrastructure, which is pushing up the prices of processors and other key components. Those higher costs is expected to eventually show up in store prices.
Back in December 2025, IDC said PC shipments could fall by nearly 9% in 2026 because of rising RAM costs. Then in March of this year, they made their prediction worse, saying the drop could be as high as 11.6%. It’s still early in the year, so we don’t know which side will come true.
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