Desktop PC sales surge in Europe, AI-ready notebooks gain ground

Desktop PC sales across European distribution have experienced strong year-on-year growth in early Q2 2025, surpassing notebook sales in both unit and revenue terms according to data from CONTEXT.

CONTEXT's latest insights reveal that desktop PC revenues increased by 22% compared to the same period last year, with unit sales rising at a similar pace. In contrast, notebooks saw more modest revenue growth of 7% and unit growth of 3% year-on-year.

Drivers and dynamics

Marie-Christine Pygott, Senior Analyst at CONTEXT, attributed the robust desktop demand to two main factors.

"Commercial refresh cycles and the looming end-of-support for Windows 10 are fuelling a surge in desktop demand, while AI-capable notebooks are quietly building momentum in the commercial space," Pygott said.

Desktops have seen particularly strong performance over recent months.

"Desktops have been the standout performer over the past six months. Their share of total PC revenues in early Q2 reached nearly 17%, the highest level in CONTEXT's two-year reporting period. This reflects both a long-overdue refresh cycle in commercial environments and the typical spike in demand ahead of major OS support deadlines," Pygott noted.

Regional growth patterns

Breaking down the growth by country, Germany remains a major market for desktop PCs, with high demand leading in some instances to product availability constraints. The United Kingdom and Poland also showed strong increases: the UK's growth was distributed across commercial and consumer segments, while Poland's gains were largely concentrated among small and medium businesses (SMBs) and the retail sector.

According to CONTEXT's figures for early Q2 2025 (April and May), desktop distributor revenues grew by 26.4% year-on-year in Germany and 22.0% in the UK. Poland experienced a substantial surge at 67.6%, while Czechia and Norway also posted notable increases of 66.0% and 75.8% respectively. Growth was more subdued or negative in markets like Italy (down 7.7%) and Portugal (down 2.3%). France, Spain, Switzerland, Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Slovakia, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Sweden, and Denmark all saw desktop revenue growth ranging from 9.4% to 44.2%.

Notebook trends

Notebook sales trends varied by country. Germany, the UK, and Poland performed consistently, as these markets were less affected by a decline in educational sector purchases—a trend that hampered growth comparisons in France, Spain, and Italy. UK distributors in particular reported increased momentum, partly driven by commercial and consumer demand linked to Windows 11 upgrades.

CONTEXT's data highlights a shift within the notebook sector toward models equipped with neural processing units (NPUs), classed as AI-ready. These AI-ready notebooks represented 40–41% of all notebook volumes sold in recent months. The demand is largely influenced by the introduction of new processor generations, rather than direct customer preference at this stage.

AI-ready devices gaining ground

"The rise of Copilot+ devices is one of the most important trends to watch in the second half of 2025 and moving into 2026. Adoption is still early-stage, but momentum is gradually increasing and we're expecting this to accelerate as use cases multiply and prices come down," added Marie-Christine.

Copilot+ devices—one of the emerging segments within AI-capable notebooks—expanded their share of AI-capable notebook sales from 5% in January to 13% in May, led by commercial uptake of Intel's Lunar Lake systems.

Sector outlook

The commercial sector was highlighted as the primary driver of desktop PC demand in Europe, with end-of-support deadlines for operating systems prompting accelerated refresh cycles across organisations. Some markets, such as Germany, saw high levels of demand impacting availability, while the UK and Poland also recorded healthy commercial and consumer activity.

In the notebook space, the shift towards AI-ready devices is expected to continue, with more businesses and consumers likely to explore new features and capabilities as prices potentially fall and software support expands.

CONTEXT's analysis indicates that desktop PCs currently maintain a strong position in the European market due to commercial refresh cycles, while AI-ready notebooks are gradually establishing a foothold, particularly in enterprise settings.