Now that the first quarter of 2026 has passed, data analysts and market researchers have been poring over the global PC shipping figures. According to International Data Corporation (IDC), it's actually been good news for computer manufacturers, as shipments have apparently grown by 2.5%, despite the global memory crisis. However, the forecast for the rest of the year is pretty gloomy.
That 2.5% growth in PC shipments is the average for the three primary markets—Americas, Asia Pacific, and EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa)—and in the case of the second and third of those, the growth rates were actually 4.3% and 7.4%, respectively.
A smattering of math knowledge should be all that's required to release what that means, though. Yes, that's right, the Americas market didn't grow at all. In fact, it saw a fall of 3.3% in its PC shipments.
IDC says that the global growth was "mostly fueled by the anticipation of rising component prices, Windows 10 migration, and new product introductions," but commentary on the Americas was notable by its absence. While I am no expert in such matt...
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