Apparently Apple introduced its MacBook Neo with a starting price of $599 at the perfect time.
Worldwide shipments of desktops, notebooks and workstations in 2026 are expected to decline by 12% to 245 million units, according to the latest outlook from Omdia. This forecast is grounded in “sharp increases in memory and storage prices” – particularly the expected minimum 60% rise in the first quarter of 2026. Further upward price pressure is anticipated throughout the remaining quarters of the year, though subsequent increases are expected to be more moderate, according to the research group.
Omedia predicts that Mac sales will decline by 4.8% annually. However, that’ much better than the research group predicts for Windows machines (-12.1%) and ChromeOs devices (-27.6%). Omedia predicts that Apple will sell 26 million Macs this year for 10.8% market share. That compares to sales of 27.7 million Macs and 10% market share in 2025.
Since the first quarter of 2025, the costs of mainstream memory and storage configurations have risen by between US$90 and US$165, placing substantial financial pressure on PC vendors and forcing them to reduce promotions, raise product prices, and adjust configurations. The impact across PC product categories is expected to be broadly consistent, according to Omdia. Desktops are set to decline by 10% to 53.2 million units, while laptops will decline by 12% to 192.2 million units.
In 2026, PCs priced below US$500 are expected to be hit hardest, declining by 28% to around 62.1 million units shipped. By contrast, shipments of high-end PCs priced at US$900 and above are better supported and may even maintain modest growth. Which, of course, is good news for Apple, especially as it’s purportedly planning an ultra-high end “MacBook Ultra.”
“Beyond the stronger ability of higher price bands to absorb cost increases, we also factored in that some consumers and IT decision makers will accept higher price points to meet essential needs, which will drive an upward shift in the price mix,” said Omedia Principal Analyst Ben Yeh. “However, the movement toward higher price bands does not necessarily represent improved product configurations.”
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