2 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Mar 3, 2026 05:35 PM IST
Budget PCs are everywhere, but they may not be around for a long time. In the last few months, AI data centres have been responsible for pushing the world into a memory and storage crisis, which is, in turn, now causing significant price hikes, especially in the smartphone segment.
Now, a report by Gartner suggests that budget PCs may disappear by 2028. With memory prices doubling, tripling, and quadrupling in less than six months, the analyst firm says PC shipments will decline by 10.4% this year, while smartphone shipments are expected to drop by 8.4% this year compared to 2025 levels.
It goes on to say that markets will see a 130% hike in combined DRAM and SSD prices by the end of the year, which will, in turn, increase PC and smartphone prices by 17% and 13%, respectively.
Gartner says these rising costs will also increase PC lifetime by 15% for business buyers and 20% for consumers, with delayed upgrades potentially leading to more security vulnerabilities and organisations facing issues over managing older devices.
With memory prices soon expected to account for 23% of the total bill of materials (BOM) for PCs, Ranjit Atwal, the Senior Director Analyst at Gartner, says the “sub-$500 entry-level PC segment will disappear by 2028. In addition, rising AI PC prices will delay the projected 50% market penetration of AI Pcs until 2028.”
The analyst added that this is the “steepest contraction” in PC shipments in more than a decade and that rising prices will significantly reduce the number of available devices, causing consumers to hold on to their existing hardware for longer.
Currently, PCs without a dedicated GPU are available for under $500. However, if memory and storage prices rise in the coming months, this budget segment could shrink or disappear altogether. While this trend may push consumers towards more premium devices, it could also lead to the gradual disappearance of the sub-Rs 9,000 smartphone segment in the coming years.
