Enterprise PC Upgrades in 2026 Face Rising Costs and Slower Options
210Companies planning to upgrade their PCs this year should prepare for higher prices and less powerful configurations. Industry analysts warn that laptop costs are climbing, and the specs available at lower price points are shrinking. This trend is driven by ongoing shortages and rising component prices that are impacting the entire market.
Why PC Prices Are Going Up
According to Rishi Padhi, a principal analyst at Gartner, PC manufacturers are already signaling price hikes across the board. They are also likely to downgrade memory specifications, especially for entry-level devices. This means affordable laptops that offer decent performance won’t be hitting the market anytime soon.
The shortages of chips and memory are making it difficult to produce low-cost laptops that meet modern standards. Padhi explains that the increased RAM requirements for Windows 11 and AI features like Copilot+ are driving up costs. As a result, delivering sub-$600 laptops without sacrificing user experience is becoming a challenge.
Supply Chain Challenges and Market Volatility
The rising component prices are accelerating compared to the last quarter of 2025. Tariffs on overseas imports further add to the cost pressures. Jack Gold, a principal analyst at J. Gold Associates, notes that many PC parts come from abroad, and vendors can’t simply absorb the tariff costs without passing them on to consumers.
This situation is creating a highly volatile market for 2026. IDC’s Jean Philippe Bouchard describes the outlook as unstable, with shortages of CPUs and memory components expected to persist well into 2027. These structural supply issues are not just temporary disruptions but long-term challenges that influence pricing and product availability.
Padhi from Gartner points out that this supply crunch is delaying the rollout of true AI-capable PCs to the mass market. Vendors are forced to either increase prices or cut back on specifications to protect profit margins. This hampers the adoption of advanced AI features in more affordable devices.
Impact on Business Upgrades and Consumer Choices
The high prices are making it harder for companies to justify upgrading their systems with AI capabilities. Jack Gold explains that most AI workloads are still handled via cloud services and web browsers. Features like Microsoft’s Copilot+ are useful but not enough to justify spending over $1,000 on a new machine.
Furthermore, the focus on premium units is shifting supply away from lower-cost options. Gold compares this to the SUV market dominating car supplies—higher-end models are taking priority. Even Chromebooks, which are typically cheaper, are experiencing supply issues as vendors prefer to produce higher-priced PCs.
Despite these challenges, PC shipments in 2025 surpassed expectations, growing by 9.1% to reach 270 million units. This was driven by the end of Windows 10 support, companies wanting to future-proof, and a rush to upgrade before tariffs increased. The push for Windows 11 and AI integration also contributed to the boost in demand.
Looking ahead, Microsoft plans to embed more AI features into Windows 11 PCs over the next couple of years. However, the rollout of AI tools like Copilot+ is expected to become a broader part of the user experience rather than a hardware feature that drives sales. Overall, the market in 2026 is set to be shaped by supply constraints and high costs, influencing how and when businesses and consumers upgrade their devices.
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