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Gartner said that the PC industry shipped 59 million units during the first quarter of 2025, a 4.8 percent increase from a year ago. Last week, rival IDC said that 63.2 million PCs shipped, a 4.9 percent increase.
What seems to be clear is that the PC industry "front-loaded" shipments, trying to get them inside the United States before tariffs could take effect.
"The growth in the PC market in the first quarter of 2025 was driven by the surge in shipments in two key markets, the U.S. and Japan, but for different underlying reasons," said Rishi Padhi, research principal at Gartner, in a statement. "In the U.S., the PC market experienced a surge in shipments as vendors increased inventory in anticipation of tariff announcements, resulting in 12.6 percent year-over-year growth. Despite this increase and the subsequent strong topline growth, underlying end-user demand remained cautious, even with the added boost from enterprises upgrading PCs for Windows 11."
"The market is clearly showing some level of pull-in in the first quarter this year as both vendors and end-users brace for the impact of US tariffs," said Jean Philippe Bouchard, a research vice president with IDC, last week. "In a first quarter still relatively untouched by tariffs, the entire ecosystem attempted to accelerate the pace of deliveries to avoid the first round of U.S. tariffs and expected volatility for the remainder of the year."
Tariffs imposed by the Trump administration currently sit at 20 percent, after a few days where administration statements went back and forth. In a "
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If you somehow haven't already heard, Switch 2 pre-orders remain indefinitely delayed in the U.S. While folks in the UK are able to pre-order the new console now (while stock lasts, of course), Americans will have to wait for their time to shine. In response to new tariffs announced by President Donald Trump shortly after the last Nintendo Direct presentation, the company delayed Switch 2 pre-orders in the U.S. Canadians will also have to wait as Nintendo has also delayed pre-orders in that country as well, according to a report from MobileSyrup and confirmed by Walmart of Canada via a post on X.
According a statement Nintendo provided to Engadget: "Pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in the U.S. will not start April 9, 2025 in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions. Nintendo will update timing at a later date. The launch date of June 5, 2025 is unchanged."
President Trump recently announced a 90-day pause on steep "reciprocal" tariffs affecting 75 countries, but also announced that the tariff imposed on China will go up to 125 percent (we now know it's up to
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Uncertainty around tariffs has put a new focus on where the chips behind AI are made.
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The latest order is a "clarification of exceptions" to Trump's earlier order on April 2, regarding tariffed goods imported to the United States from China. That order raised tariffs on Chinese goods to 125 percent. Those tariffs of 125 percent remain in place, but reduce the tariff on a broad swath of the PC industry, plus smartphones.
Essentially, it provides relief for PC and component buyers, which has already been plagued by high prices on computers and components.
Specifically, the order excepts several classifications of products found on the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which in turn provides an esoteric textual description pf products imported to the U.S. "In Executive Order 14257, I stated that certain goods are not subject to the ad valorem rates of duty under that order," Trump's order states. "One of those excepted products is ‘semiconductors.'"
In a post on the Truth Social web site on Sunday afternoon, Trump denied that the technology industry was receiving a wholesale exemption. "There was no Tariff ‘exception' announced on Friday," Trump wrote. "These products are subject to the existing 20% Fentanyl Tariffs, and they are just moving to a different Tariff ‘bucket.'"
Trump said that the government would be "taking a l
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 If you have an older Apple device that you've been considering upgrading, you're probably wondering how the newly announced tariffs might impact prices going forward, and whether it's worth buying now before there's a price hike.
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