A worrying report on the PC market’s future points to it drastically shrinking in the next two years, which might justify Sony’s recent shift in strategy.
There’s been plenty of doom and gloom surrounding the future of gaming hardware for the last few months, and for good reason since we’re in the midst of a memory shortage crisis.
With AI companies hoarding RAM and SSDs to power their data centres, there’s barely enough components to go round amongst other tech companies and console manufacturers, which is one of the reasons why some suspect the PlayStation 6 and next Xbox will be delayed.
This has naturally made what stock is left more expensive and there are fears the shortages could last for anything up to another 10 years. But it’s hard to imagine how much worse things will get by 2036, when it’s also predicted that most people won’t be able to afford new PCs within the next two years.
According to consulting company Gartner, PC memory costs are expected to climb by up to 23% this year, which it predicts will completely kill entry level hardware.
In other words, components will become so rare and expensive that companies won’t bother with cheaper, lower end devices and will instead only sell more lucrative high end set-ups, which is exactly what Microsoft has already hinted at with their next gen Xbox.
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‘This sharp increase removes vendors’ ability to absorb costs, making low-margin entry-level laptops nonviable. Ultimately, we expect the sub-$500 (about £375) entry-level PC segment will disappear by 2028,’ says senior director analyst Ranjit Atwal.
2028 isn’t that far away and this could also justify Sony’s alleged plans to stop porting its single-player games to PC. Those PC ports have apparently been dropping in sales anyway and if the PC audience isn’t going to grow (or worse, shrink), that may be one reason why Sony wants to focus on making the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 6 more enticing with traditional console exclusives.
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Sony might not see Xbox as a rival anymore, especially if the next gen console is actually more akin to an expensive gaming PC. However, Valve’s Steam Machine is thought to be at least a little more affordable – although it’s apparent delay is believed to be due to the memory crisis.
Microsoft has acknowledged that its next console will be a ‘very premium, very high end curated experience,’ while the Steam Machine is expected to be more expensive than a regular console and won’t be sold at a loss either. So it’s still not going to be in any way cheap.
Elsewhere in the report, Gartner adds the increase in prices will dissuade PC owners from upgrading, ‘fundamentally altering upgrade cycles,’ and that entry level smartphones also stand to be affected, with customers expected to either hold onto their current phones for longer or seek out refurbished models rather than buy a brand new one.
All in all, it’s predicted that global PC and smartphone shipments will drop by 10.4% and 8.4%, respectively, throughout the rest of the year, with Gartner recommending vendors ‘optimise pricing’ during the first half of 2026.
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