Lenovo Leads PC Market Boom As Shipments Rebound But Will 2026 Be A Bust?
Panic over soaring memory costs in the second half of last year didn't stop the PC market from rebounding in a big way, with global shipments of desktops, laptops, and workstations surging 10.1% to 59 75 million units in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to Omdia. The last-quarter surge propelled the full-year tally to 279.5 million units shipped, which is a sizable 9.2% jump compared to 2024.
The market research firm described the overall PC market performance in 2026 as "healthy," though also acknowledged upward price pressure from tightened memory and storage supplies that began in the middle of 2025.
"Between Q1 to Q4 2025, mainstream PC memory and storage costs rose by 40% to 70%, resulting in cost increases being passed through to customers," said Ben Yeh, Principal Analyst at Omdia. "Given tight 2026 supply, the industry is emphasizing high-end SKUs and leaner mid to low-tier configurations to protect margins."
This caused PC vendors to warn about impending price increases. The situation is especially frustrating for do-it-yourself (DIY) system builders, as the cost of DDR5 memory kits has skyrocketed, but there will also be challenges from the prebuilt sector as we progress through 2026.
"In 2026, with device replacement demand not yet fully abated, supply-side pressures will be more pronounced and supply will not fully meet demand," added Yeh, "Actual shipment performance will hinge on vendors’ memory and storage procurement and negotiating leverage; beyond scale, their track records and credibility with suppliers will be a decisive factor in determining their success in navigating this period of complexity."
As a side effect, Yeh says the industry will begin emphasizing high-end SKUs, as well as scaling back specs on mid-tier and lower-end configurations to protect profit margins. It will be interesting (and potentially maddening) to see how that plays out.
The good news for OEMs, however, is that they're still shipping systems. None more than Lenovo (a familiar story), which now claims over a quarter of the market (25.8%) for desktop and laptop penetration. HP is not that far behind (20.6%), followed by Dell (16.7%) in the double-digit percentage category.
"Lenovo led the PC market both sequentially and for the full year, delivering double-digit growth of 14.4% in Q4 2025 and closing the year with shipments of 71 million units, up 14.6% year on year. HP ranked second, shipping 15.4 million PCs in Q4 2025 and recording growth on both a sequential and annual basis during the quarter. Dell posted its strongest quarterly performance of 2025, achieving a robust 26% year-on-year increase in Q4," Omdia said.
In short, the glass-half-full take is that the PC market rebounded in a big way, even as memory prices began to go up. The glass-half-empty take, however, is that 2026 could be a challenging year as PC vendors deplete their inventories.
