It is estimated that laptop sales will fall by almost 15% during this first quarter of the year

TrendForce gives us estimates of how sales are going relating to electronics and computing, where lately attention has grown on products that particularly make memory usage. On this occasion, TrendForce has seen that the CPU price increase together with that of memory (RAM and storage) will cause Laptop shipments drop almost 15% this first quarter of 2026 compared to 2025.

Laptop shipments fall almost 15% during this first quarter of 2026

The CPU can assume up to 30% of the cost total laptop, added to the increased cost up to 80% of RAM memory and SSD disks, will lead to a 14.8% drop in shipments of laptops for these first months of the year. A drop in sales that even have exceeded the manufacturers’ low expectationswho have seen how the laptop business is no longer the same as it was in 2025.

Not only the RAM and SSD increase their price, but also the CPU and other components

But not only the CPU or the memories have a higher price, it has also been making the manufacturing of other components such as PCB more expensive. The main board now it is more expensive to produce Due to copper and more sophisticated designs, it will even become a trend in the future. Also the batteries They are increasing their production costs, with more expensive necessary materials.

Batteries and PMICs also increase the final price of the laptop

To these essential elements in a laptop, there is also the high cost of the PMICs (Integrated Energy Management Circuit) increasingly necessary in these devices. An extra cost to control USBs, Wi-Fi or cameras, among others.

Brands remain optimistic, but numbers don’t lie

The brands of laptops are still optimisticalthough the numbers seem like they won’t be, at least during this first quarter of the year. Looking ahead to 2026 as a whole, TrendForce has reaffirmed its pessimistic numbers, reducing its shipping predictions from just over 5%. up to 9.4%. Fluctuations in memory prices create a uncertainty that does not inspire to buya situation that may improve during the second half of this year.