The cost of personal computers is growing due to the lack of various components. Sadly, the situation will not change for the better in the near future, Lenovo predicts . Therefore, prices for personal computers, laptops and other computer equipment will increase in the coming quarters.

Currently, manufacturers are experiencing a shortage of the following components:

• DRAM;
• SSD;
• batteries;
• LCD panels.

Lack of components

Lenovo’s corporate president and chief operating officer, Gianfranco Lanci, voiced his forecast for the development of the market situation during a teleconference on the company's financial activities on February 16, 2017.
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It is still difficult to determine the specific price growth limit, because in different computer configurations the components have a different share in the total cost. Obviously, the shortage and rise in price of batteries will not affect the cost of desktop PCs, because they do not have batteries, but will affect the cost of laptops. On the other hand, the lack of LCD panels and DRAM will affect everyone.

Lanci said prices will continue to rise due to a shortage.

The rise in price of SSD is associated with an increase in the popularity of solid-state drives, while the supply of NAND chips does not keep up with the demand.

The cost of DRAM is growing due to the next cycle of price volatility. This market is very volatile, prices annually jump by tens of percent up and down. This type of market analysts call the cycle "boom-recession" (boom-or-bust). In the market there is a shortage of goods, then a large excess. For IV quarter. 2016 DRAM prices increased by 30%. According to the DRAMeXchange forecast , they may increase by another 40% in the first quarter. 2017, and growth will continue in the second quarter.

Samsung's profit in the IV quarter. 2016 increased by 12%, Hynix profit - by 27.3%, Micron - by 24.4%.


Independent analysts agree with the director of Lenovo. But there is another nuance. For example, Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa (Mikako Kitagawa) added that manufacturers themselves are pushing up prices. They are trying to get the maximum profit from the PC market boring.

There is another growth driver. The fact is that as the PC market shrinks, the portrait of the average desktop customer gradually changes. Today, increasingly, these are gamers and computer enthusiasts who are looking for top configurations and are willing to spend large sums on computer upgrades. For them, a dozen or two extra dollars are not as important as for an ordinary housewife. Typical average users in our time are satisfied with smartphones and are not inclined to spend money on a normal computer, even if the PC is much cheaper and in all respects superior to a smartphone in technical specifications.

With the change of the user's portrait, manufacturers are gradually changing the configuration of the PC in the direction of more productive models. Accordingly, the average price is growing.

Spin money from consumers

Cheap PCs are not going anywhere, because they are always in demand, according to Kitagawa. The market will always remain very cheap laptops and PCs in the base configuration. True, some manufacturers limit model lines in such a way as to push the user to purchase more expensive equipment. For example, Dell sells an XPS 13 laptop for $ 800 with a Kaby Lake Core i3 processor, 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. But you can't just take and ask for a configuration with a 256 GB drive. If you need a larger capacity SSD, you can use a model with a Core i5 processor and 8 GB of RAM worth $ 1,100.

Thus, additional options are imposed on the user and forced to pay for the unnecessary configuration.

It would seem why a person does not make an upgrade on their own. Why not buy an SSD and install it yourself? The engineer will do just that, but the usual mass of housewives is not capable of such an operation and will obediently make an unnecessary upgrade. The situation is forced by the manufacturers themselves, who threaten to void the warranty on the laptop if a person dares to unscrew the screws from the cover. Many are simply afraid to do this after seeing the sealed body. In addition, some manufacturers deliberately complicate repairs using non-standard screws, making it difficult to access the SSD and memory, gluing the battery with glue, etc. Manufacturers also tend to run into independent engineers who repair the original equipment in their "unauthorized" workshops. Users repair a laptop for $ 5-10 instead of buying a new part from the manufacturer for $ 100-200. This is an obvious robbery, say manufacturers.

Returning to the mentioned line of laptops Dell XPS 13. If the user wants a laptop with a 512 GB SSD, then this is only sold with models that come with a Core i7 processor and a touchscreen of 3200 × 1800 pixels. Price corresponding: $ 1,750.

PC prices have now reached their highest level since 2011. That same year, the fall in PC sales began - and, as a result, a gradual increase in prices.

Additional profit from consumers in a shrinking market is also squeezed out by component manufacturers. So, Intel raised the price of microcircuits by 7% in 2016. True, Intel is not so losing due to lower PC sales. Last year, it sold even more Core i7 processors due to the growth of the gaming market and virtual reality systems.

In general, the global PC market has been declining for many years. According to IDC , in the IV quarter. In 2016, global PC sales fell by 1.5%, and in the previous quarter, by 4%. If it goes on like this, it will soon be necessary to impose websites for mobile phones, and then for normal PCs.

Who knows, maybe some sites will not have a PC version, but there will be only a mobile version with large buttons and large letters (many years ago the opposite situation was observed before the onset of smartphones).