New Delhi, April 15 (IANS). Worldwide PC shipments rose 4 percent year-on-year to 62.8 million units in the first quarter (January-March) of 2026, a report said on Wednesday.
According to data compiled by Gartner, this increase does not fully reflect actual consumer demand. Instead, companies and distributors stockpiled more stock in anticipation of rising component prices in the second quarter.
Rishi Padhi, research principal at Gartner, said the annual increase was “artificially inflated” due to rising memory prices (commonly known as ‘memflation’) and fears of overstocking of components such as DRAM and NAND flash.
He said that this trend was especially seen in the less profitable PC segment.
Additionally, the basis of comparison also affects this growth, as more shipments were already made in the first quarter of 2025 due to fear of US tariffs, making this year’s figure appear higher.
Talking about the performance of the companies, there has not been much change in the top four global PC companies. Lenovo retained its number-1 position, while HP Inc. It remained in second place, although its market share has decreased slightly.
Whereas Dell Technologies has increased its market share in this quarter.
Amidst all this, Apple was the fastest growing company, whose shipments registered an increase of 12.7 percent on an annual basis.
This growth was primarily driven by strong demand for its MacBook Neo series, driven by new users and buyers in the education sector.
According to the report, Apple’s strategy attracted customers who wanted better performing devices at lower prices, which further strengthened the company’s hold on the market.
At the same time, in this quarter, Asus left Acer behind and achieved fifth position in the global ranking.
–IANS
DBP
