A forecast says the laptop market in 2026 will face twin pressures of slowing demand and rising component prices. It says laptop prices could rise sharply as manufacturers seek to maintain margins due to higher memory and central processing unit (CPU) prices. Online media outlet Gigazine reported the details on March 11 local time.

Market research firm TrendForce says rising prices for memory such as DRAM and NAND flash are quickly driving up laptop manufacturing costs. Memory and SSDs currently account for about 15 percent of a laptop's bill of materials, but that is expected to exceed 30 percent in the first quarter of 2026.

CPU prices are also adding to upward pressure. Intel has already raised prices for entry-level and older CPUs by more than 15 percent, and plans additional increases in the second quarter of 2026 for its main products as well as mid- and high-end models.

If these component price increases are reflected, laptop prices could also rise sharply. For example, for a laptop that previously cost about $900 (about 1.33 million won), the share of memory and CPU costs in the bill of materials could expand from 45 percent to 58%, raising the final consumer price to about $1,260 (about 1.86 million won). That corresponds to a price increase of about 40 percent.

A market contraction is also expected. Market research firm Omdia forecasts that global PC shipments in 2026 will fall 12 percent from a year earlier to about 245 million units due to the impact of these price increases. In particular, shipments of Chromebooks, a low-priced product segment, are expected to fall sharply by 28 percent.

Component supply issues are also a variable. As demand for artificial intelligence (AI) computing surges, advanced semiconductor manufacturing processes and packaging capacity are being allocated first to high-performance products. This is putting pressure on the supply of entry-level CPUs, and is also showing up as inventory shortages on AMD platforms.

In this situation, PC makers are opting for a strategy of allocating limited components first to higher-priced models to boost profitability. As a result, low-priced laptops are expected to shrink and average selling prices to rise, the analysis says.

Apple, meanwhile, is moving to target the market with a relatively low-price strategy. IT media outlet 9to5Mac reports that Apple aims to expand its market share by releasing the MacBook Neo at 990,000 won.

The MacBook Neo is seen as Apple's lowest-priced laptop ever, equipped with the Apple A18 Pro chip, and is expected to sell about 4 million to 5 million units over 2026. Apple is seen as having relatively less pressure to raise prices than rivals because it has secured long-term component supply contracts backed by strong purchasing power.

The industry says that as rivals face upward pressure on prices, the MacBook Neo could move to expand market share by using its price competitiveness to attract Windows users as well.