Research firm Omdia says demand for personal computers (PCs) is likely to remain weak for the remainder of the year, as more than half of its surveyed enterprise partners report that customers are postponing hardware upgrades. Global PC shipments fell 3.6% year-over-year to 65.7 million units in the second quarter, as soaring memory and flash storage costs drove retail prices up by 20% to 40%. Early cost spikes have already prompted some buyers to make purchases ahead of schedule. Omdia also highlighted Apple's recent MacBook price increase, reflecting a widespread industry trend of passing on significant component price increases directly to customers.
