PCs under $500 could 'disappear by 2028'.

Rising memory and SSD costs will also make 'low-cost, low-profit PC lines unviable' due to the expected continued uncontrolled increase in AI chip consumption.

In an in-depth analysis that will probably not surprise many of us, technology analytics firm Gartner has revealed that it believes the 'low-end PC segment under $500 will disappear by 2028,' based on its latest research. This milestone in the ongoing rise in PC prices is due to a combined 130% increase in the cost of memory and SSDs, resulting in an overall PC price increase of 17% compared to 2025.

Gartner doesn't pinpoint AI as the cause of these component price increases, or at least doesn't mention it in the overview of this report, but simply cites 'soaring memory costs' and the fact that the overall effect of these price increases and reduced supply will lead to a 10.4% drop in PC shipments this year. Just as high GPU prices in general have already made the best gaming PCs very expensive, now memory and SSDs are adding to the burden.

"This is the sharpest drop in shipments in over a decade. Rising prices will narrow the range of available equipment, causing buyers to hold onto their devices longer, fundamentally altering the upgrade cycle," Ranjit Atwal, Senior Director of Analysis at Gartner, explained in the report.

Further elaborating on the final point, Atwal predicts that this market pressure will cause PC users to keep their computers longer than ever before, increasing the average PC lifespan by 15% for business buyers and 20% for consumers by the end of 2026. The report goes on to say that delaying these upgrades 'will further increase concerns about security vulnerabilities'.

However, there is also some good news in this report, as Atwal also predicts that 'rising PC AI prices will delay achieving 50% market penetration for PC AI until 2028'. This means Microsoft is also delaying its ambitions to push AI forward at least until then.

Perhaps the most noteworthy point from this report is that it suggests high RAM and SSD prices will persist longer than previously predicted by other sources. Some other reports suggested the market might stabilize by mid-year, but that seems unlikely to happen.

It's worth noting that at least part of this price increase is simply due to natural inflation. Everything has become more expensive in recent years, and computer components in general are no exception. Therefore, the fact that personal computers have exceeded $500 is inevitable. Just a few years ago, we could have hoped that future would be a distant prospect.