Rebound of the laptop: AI chips fuel sales recovery but geopolitics, shortages and high costs can hurt this boom

Laptops are back, with better AI chips that enable online work without having to download software for once heavy-duty tasks like video and music production. The global laptop market is slowly recovering after turbulence. The new generation of AI processors is reviving consumer interest. But there are hurdles: Prices are up as production costs is rising due to supply chain constraints, component shortage, and geopolitical tensions.

Laptop shipments fell sharply in 2022-2023 after pandemic boom

After many years of struggle that saw big players like IBM, Sony and Toshiba exiting the PC market in the 2010s, there was a boom during the Covid pandemic, accelerated by work from home. As the lockdowns ended, personal laptops saw one of the steepest corrections in the industry’s recent history. In 2024, the market stabilised with a modest annual growth of about 1.3 per cent. According to a Canalys estimate, total PC shipments (out of which up to 85 per cent are laptops), rose to roughly 255 million units in 2024, up nearly 4 per cent. This broke an eight-quarter streak of declines. Lenovo, HP and Dell together accounted for more than 60 per cent of these shipments. This was helped by continuing patterns of hybrid work, and as fleets of devices purchased in the pandemic's early years crossed their refresh cycle.

The rise of so-called 'AI PCs'

The biggest hype in recent years has been around AI processors from Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, and Apple that incorporate dedicated neural processing units (NPUs) on laptops. Intel’s Core Ultra chips, AMD’s Ryzen AI 300 series, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite, and Apple’s M4 processors all include NPUs. New models like the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i, HP Spectre x360 AI, Asus Vivobook S 15 (Snapdragon X Elite), and Apple MacBook Air M4 highlight this shift to AI computing. They enable hardware acceleration for on-device AI tasks, like real-time video enhancement, noise filtering, and other productivity tasks, reducing reliance on cloud computing. A Gartner forecast showed that AI-capable PCs will account for roughly 31 per cent of global PC shipments in 2025, and more than half by 2026, with laptops leading the adoption.

Available data from 2025 shows AI-equipped laptops are in high demand compared to traditional models. Business buyers bought in bulk as they prepare for Windows 10’s end of support in October 2025 on many earlier PC models. Many original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have been advertising AI features as “future-proof” for productivity, security, and device-local workloads. Enterprise orders reportedly increased by more than 10 per cent year on year.

Laptop resurgence also comes with higher prices: Chip wars and battery shortages

A parallel trend is the higher cost of laptops. The average selling prices (ASPs) are up, driven by factors of geopolitics and the global contest for semiconductors and rare earths. As a result, ASPs rose from about 720 US dollars in 2021 to about 820 US dollars in 2024. AI-capable components like NPUs, advanced memory, and power-efficient displays led to higher cost of production than previous models. The export restrictions from countries like China and the US, part of the chip war, led to supply chain issues. Logistics bottlenecks continue to add to the cost of buying laptops. Besides the chips, the contest for critical minerals behind the high-performance lithium batteries is also weighing on the prices. Demand for lithium and cobalt is particularly tight.

How geopolitics is affecting price of laptops

Laptops are among items where geopolitical uncertainty is strongly felt in pricing. The US tariff war with China and other countries prompted some laptop makers to pull shipments forward and diversify production locations, raising costs. Apple, HP and Dell shifted some production to Vietnam and India. Currency fluctuations and rising labour costs in Asian manufacturing hubs are adding to the retail prices of laptops.

As a result of these factors, premium and mid-range laptop prices rose in 2024. Data from 2025 suggests the trend will continue, as AI models are dominating sales. This is strangely leading to an interesting situation. While laptops are now rebounding, many lower-income customers are either postponing upgrades or refurbishing older laptops. The used-laptop market grew by more than 9 per cent in 2024.

What does the future look for laptops?

For the foreseeable future, the demand for laptops is going to be steady if not astronomical, but it's not always going to be pocket-friendly for the middle or lower-income consumers. Industry remains cautiously optimistic, offering AI-driven features. The Windows 11-only PC era is here, since Microsoft stopped supporting Windows 10. This means enterprises will have to buy new models. Shipment volumes are stabilising in spite of the geopolitical headwinds. Laptops have suddenly become more relevant in an era increasingly defined by intelligent computing.