- Global PC Shipments rose in the 2nd quarter of 2025 but the reason is not consumer confidence
- Windows 10’s threatening end is forcing companies to urgent PC upgrade cycles
- Consumer expenses on personal devices have stopped, with upgrades likely to be delayed to 2026
The global PC market saw shipments rise in the second quarter of 2025, but growth seems to be more bound to short-term business upgrades and software deadlines than to renewed consumer demand.
New figures from Canalys claim global shipments of desktops, notebooks and workstations PCs that increased 7.4% years to years to reach 67.6 million units.
Still, the story behind this growth is revealing a market shaped more of the operating system’s life cycles and trade policy than of buyer confidence.
Temporary drivers behind the wave
The analyst company primarily believes that the nearby Windows 10 life deadline in October 2025 is the most important factor that drives this increase.
“Despite global uncertainty, Windows 10 End of Support Deadline in October delivers significant market stability, but affects consumer and commercial segments differently,” said Kieren Jessop, head of research at Canalys.
Business PC implementations have gained momentum, while consumers’ demand has stopped as many individuals appear to be hesitant to spend in the midst of a wider financial volatility and push upgrades of personal unit to 2026.
This delay could later coincide with the retirement of many units of pandemic time, creating a potential consumer neck next year.
“The commercial update cycle provides the important momentum for the market,” Jessop explained, pointing to a recent vote that found that more than half of Channel Partners expect their PC business to grow in the second half of 2025, with almost a third projecting growth over 10%.
This emphasis on business upgrades and desktop upgrades rather than organic consumer demand suggests that winnings may not be sustainable beyond the Windows 10 deadline.
The seller landscape shows that Lenovo retained the top position with 17.0 million units sent, an increase of 15.2% from a year earlier.
HP followed 14.1 million units and marked a modest increase of 3.2%, while Dell saw a dropping of 3.0%.
Apple announced the strongest growth, an increase of 21.3% to 6.4 million units, and ASUS was not far behind with an increase of 18.4%.
An increase of 9% in desktop shipments and a 7% increase in notebooks, including workstations -PCs, also helped increase the market.
In addition to Windows 10 and the commercial update cycle, growing tensions around global trade policy, especially involved US tariffs, transforming the PC supply chain.
“Trump administration’s evolving customs policies continue to reshape global PC supply chains while throwing uncertainty about market recovery,” said Ben Yeh, main analyst at Canalys.
Yeh warned that although PCs remain exempt from customs for now, the situation is grim.
“What began when straightforward avoidance of China has evolved into a complex legislative maze.”
With the US-Vietnam trading agreement, which introduces new tariffs, 20% on Vietnamese goods and up to 40% on goods considered to be transhipped, producers can find supply chain changes no longer a viable way to control cost pressure.
Overall, while the number looks strong, the underlying drivers of this growth are temporary and highly dependent on a fixed software life cycle and fragile trade agreements.
