The Asia-Pacific personal computer (PC) market expanded in 2025 but is expected to contract this year as supply constraints and rising costs weigh on demand, according to research firm IDC.
Data from IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Devices Tracker showed that shipments of desktops, notebooks, and workstations in the region (including Japan and China) rose 11.6% year-on-year in 2025 to 106.6 million units.
The growth was driven by device replacement cycles and large-scale deployments, particularly in the education sector.
“In 2025, the Asia-Pacific region recorded growth across all segments, driven by a strong refresh demand to replace aging devices in conjunction with the Windows 10 end of support and large-scale education deployments in countries such as India, Indonesia, and Japan,” said Matthew Ong, senior market analyst at IDC Asia-Pacific.
“All countries in the region recorded YoY shipment growth in the fourth quarter of 2025, as vendors and end users accelerated shipments and procurement in anticipation of supply constraints and price increases in 2026.”
IDC said the consumer segment grew 6.4% to 50.1 million units, with desktops up 4.4% and notebooks increasing 7.0%. However, demand weakened in markets such as Hong Kong and South Korea.
The commercial segment posted stronger growth, rising 16.7% to 56.6 million units. Notebook shipments surged 24.0%, while desktops grew 8.9% and workstations increased 6.8%.
The gains were supported by private sector upgrades of pandemic-era devices and ongoing migration to Windows 11, as well as increased spending from government and education sectors.
Despite the strong 2025 performance, IDC expects shipments to fall 13.7% in 2026 to 92.0 million units, citing component shortages, higher prices, and softer demand following the previous year’s refresh cycle.
“Strong demand driven by AI infrastructure is creating significant constraints in the global supply of DRAM and NAND as memory manufacturers shift production capacity away from consumer electronics to meet growing data-center needs,” said Maciek Gornicki, senior research manager at IDC Asia-Pacific.
“This is disrupting PC supply, with vendors struggling to secure the memory components needed to build new systems. We expect these shortages to drive prices higher and soften overall demand.
“In Asia-Pacific, vendors are anticipated to prioritize mature markets with higher ASPs to protect margins, while emerging economies — particularly Southeast Asia — will face the greatest impact from both product shortages and rising prices, as these markets are more reliant on low-end devices and consumers are especially sensitive to cost increases.”
