According to Gartner, global PC shipments in the first quarter of 2026 reached 62.8 million units, a 4% increase year-over-year. However, this growth was largely driven by increased inventory in anticipation of rising memory prices and potential component cost hikes, rather than actual expansion in demand.

On April 13, Gartner released preliminary results for global PC shipments for the first quarter of 2026, which included these findings. Gartner stated that the increase in shipments this quarter was a result of vendors and distributors securing inventory in advance.

Gartner explained that the rising trend in memory prices, coupled with the potential for a sharp increase in the costs of DRAM and NAND flash components, led to a forecast of price hikes in the second quarter of 2026, which in turn raised inventory levels across the supply chain. It added that this phenomenon was particularly pronounced in low-margin product lines.

It was also reported that shipments in the first quarter of 2025 were recorded higher than actual demand as volumes entered the market preemptively ahead of U.S. tariffs. Gartner explained that the growth trend in the first quarter of this year also coincided with this trend of securing inventory in advance.

By company, Lenovo maintained the top spot by shipping 16,645,000 units. Market share rose to 26.5% from 25.2% in the same period last year. HP ranked second with 12,142,000 units, but its shipments decreased by 4.9% compared to the same period last year. Dell ranked third with 10,337,000 units, and Apple maintained fourth place with 6,684,000 units.

In the top five, ASUS overtook Acer to claim fifth place with 4.21 million units. ASUS's shipments increased by 10.8% year-on-year, while Acer ranked sixth with 4.001 million units.

Apple showed the highest growth rate among major vendors. First-quarter shipments increased by 12.7% year-over-year, and its market share rose from 9.8% to 10.6%. Gartner cited continued demand for the MacBook Neo, driven by new Mac users and buyers in the education market, as the primary reason for this.