IDC Predicts an 11.3 Percent Decline in PC Sales This Year

The market researchers at IDC have issued a new warning about PC sales in 2026 in part because of the ongoing RAM shortage. The firm now expects PC sales to decline by over 11 percent this year and the supply chain disruptions to continue into 2027.

“The overall tech industry, as well as many others, continues to face uncontrollable headwinds that, when compounded, result in massive disruption,” IDC group vice president Ryan Reith says. “The lists of industry and geopolitical events that continue to grow are making decision‑making, and even survival in some sectors, nearly impossible. What has turned all of this from a million‑dollar question into a trillion‑dollar question is the complete uncertainty around when these pressures will subside.”

IDC had previously warned about these disruptions back in December, noting that it expected a PC sales decline of 2.4 percent in 2026. But unrelenting U.S. government incompetence and the ongoing RAM crunch have only escalated the uncertainty in the intervening months. And it’s not just PCs, of course: IDC also expects tablet sales to fall 7.6 percent this year.

In the good news department, these issues are causing PC makers to raise prices and those higher prices will help lift the market in 2026, with PC revenues expected to grow 1.6 percent to $274 billion and tablets growing 3.9 percent to $66.8 billion. This, IDC says, represents the end of “the era of bargain-priced PCs and tablets,” with prices not easing up until 2028 at the earliest.