The global Personal Computer (PC) market experienced significant growth in the fourth quarter of 2025 and throughout the entire year, as reported by the International Data Corporation (IDC). Global PC shipments grew by 9.6% year-over-year in Q4 2025, reaching 76.4 million units. For the full year 2025, total PC shipments amounted to 284.7 million units, marking an 8.1% increase from the 263.3 million units recorded in 2024.

This surge in demand was primarily driven by the holiday season, coupled with Microsoft’s impending end of support for Windows 10. Furthermore, manufacturers proactively increased their inventory in anticipation of potential tariffs and a looming global memory shortage. Buyers and brands also moved to secure inventory in response to projected memory shortages expected by 2026.

In the fourth quarter of 2025, Chinese-based technology company Lenovo led the market with 19.3 million units shipped, representing a 14.4% increase from 16.9 million units in Q4 2024. Lenovo held a 25.3% market share during this period. U.S.-based HP Inc. followed with 15.4 million units, showing a 12.1% year-over-year increase and securing 20.1% of the market. Dell Technologies placed third with 11.7 million units, an 18.2% increase, capturing 15.3% market share. Apple and ASUS rounded out the top five, shipping 7.1 million units (9.3% market share, 0.2% YoY growth) and 5.4 million units (7.1% market share, 10.9% YoY growth), respectively.

For the entire year 2025, Lenovo maintained its leadership position with 70.8 million units shipped, holding a 24.9% market share, a 14.5% increase from 2024. HP Inc. was second with 57.5 million units (20.2% market share, 8.4% YoY growth), followed by Dell Technologies with 41.1 million units (14.4% market share, 5.2% YoY growth). Apple and ASUS completed the top five with 25.6 million units (9.0% market share, 11.1% YoY growth) and 20.5 million units (7.2% market share, 13.4% YoY growth) respectively.

Looking ahead, IDC warns that 2026 is shaping up to be “extremely volatile” for the PC market. The company projects that selling prices of PCs will rise significantly in 2026. This increase is attributed to surging costs of memory components, specifically RAM and NAND/SSD, which have seen shortages due to high demand from AI data centers. PC makers are expected to shift their priority towards midrange and premium systems to offset these escalating memory costs.

Jean Philippe Bouchard, research vice president at IDC, noted that beyond the obvious pressure on system prices, there might also be a reduction in average PC memory specifications to conserve existing inventory. Jitesh Ubrani, research manager with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Device trackers, added that these memory shortages are affecting the entire industry and are likely to reshape market dynamics over the next two years. He cautioned that the severity of the shortage raises the risk for smaller brands and may lead consumers, particularly DIY enthusiasts, to delay purchases or divert their spending to other devices. Given this outlook, IDC advises consumers considering a new PC purchase to do so sooner rather than later in 2026.