Channel will have to navigate through PC price rises

The UK has so far largely managed to rely on PC inventory and older stocks to be able to resist passing on hardware price rises because of component shortages.

Although there has been some ability to delay cost increases, market watchers Context are warning that the situation will change over the next few months.

Increases in memory prices are already causing the channel headaches, with customer issues created by the upward revision of questions as the price rises filter through.

Context has tracked prices, comparing the end of year costs to the average between July to September, and found that the cost of memory rose sharply in December. Different markets and form factors rose at differing rates, but all were headed upwards, with consumer SSD climbing by 35% between summer and the end of the year.

Those increases are inevitably filtering into the pricing offered by the UK channel, leading to Context forecasting a challenging period for the industry over the next few months.

“The UK is currently in a short window where pricing has not yet fully adjusted to what is happening further up the supply chain,” said James Bates, senior retail analyst at Context. “Once older stock is exhausted, higher costs will be difficult to avoid. Retailers that plan and manage inventory carefully will be better placed as prices reset later in the year.”

Desktop pricing has already been affected, with the average UK distributor prices to consumer channels increasing from £524 at the start of 2025 to £565 in early 2026. Notebooks, in comparison, were more stable as the industry sold through older stock.

The channel is being warned that the situation will worsen and there will be constraints on certain configurations as stocks run down. The guidance from others in the market is to concentrate on higher-end SKUs and mid-tier products that protect channel margins.

“Between Q1 to Q4 2025, mainstream PC memory and storage costs rose by 40% to 70%, resulting in cost increases being passed through to customers,” said Ben Yeh, principal analyst at Omdia, which shared its PC shipment analysis last month. “Given tight 2026 supply, the industry is emphasising high-end SKUs and leaner mid to low-tier configurations to protect margins.”

The PC industry had enjoyed somewhat of a renaissance thanks to last October’s end-of-life support on Windows 10 and the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI-)enabled machines.

Many users are still on that upgrade path to a Windows 11 and AI-capable device, and the rising costs of memory and storage will add to the pressure faced by partners working with those users.

“In 2026, with device replacement demand not yet fully abated, supply-side pressures will be more pronounced and supply will not fully meet demand,” added Yeh. “Actual shipment performance will hinge on vendors’ memory and storage procurement and negotiating leverage; beyond scale, their track records and credibility with suppliers will be a decisive factor in determining their success in navigating this period of complexity.”