Back in the day, laptops used to be simple work machines. Fast forward to 2026, they’re status symbols, portable workstations - practical, literal beasts at the tip of your fingers.
Laptops have been expensive forever, but with the rolling inflation, they’ve become almost unaffordable for the common man (in Pakistan, at least). Their need is infinite, but demand is pretty low because the price tags have been quite treacherous lately. Who to blame? The global market forces or the customs? And how have the factors affecting these price tags been behaving lately?
A person can wonder when they desperately need to upgrade their laptop, but their wallet doesn’t allow it. And that’s the tea we’re going to spill today. So, head below to find out the latest laptop price trends in Pakistan.
Current Laptop Price Trends in Pakistan
Entering 2026, the laptop prices in Pakistan have been behaving way worse than they were even before 2023 (which was as drastic as it could get, we thought). There are multiple reasons for these varying price trends. But the thing to note is that these trends are affecting the different laptops based on categories.
After skimming through the different laptop retail platforms in Pakistan, we found out that entry-level laptops are being sold for around PKR 99,000-150,000. These laptops usually feature the Intel Core i3 or AMD Ryzen 3 processors with 8GB RAM and up to 512GB SSD. Then there are the mid-range laptops (with Intel Core i5 or Ryzen 5 and up to 16GB RAM) selling at around PKR 150,000-250,000.
Upper mid-range laptops that are commonly used for gaming and content creation fall in the range of PKR 250,000-350,000 these days. These laptops have discrete GPUs and have a sleek ultrabook design. Moving on to high-end laptops (with Intel Core i7, Ryzen 7, and up to 16GB RAM), which cost PKR 350,000-500,000.
Now, the big sharks - the top-tier premium laptops like MacBook Pro models and gaming laptops. Thanks to their high-end CPUs and professional GPUs, these laptops are being sold at a whopping range of PKR 500,000-800,000. Wait… that’s not the price ceiling. You can get ultra-high-end, extreme gaming laptops for more than PKR 800,000.
Reasons for the Laptop Price Trends Impacting Pakistan
The second half of 2025 and the beginning of 2026 have seen some big bumps in laptop pricing. To put it mildly, the graph’s been anything but stable. Below are the main reasons why.
Rising Prices of RAM & SSDs
One of the main reasons why laptop prices are spiking so badly in not just Pakistan, but the rest of the world, is the rising prices of RAM and SSDs. There’s literally a global price pandemic going on. The reason is mainly the insane increase in the demand for these cards.
Business Recorder clearly mentions that in the next few years, if Pakistan wants to be able to afford RAM and SSDs, it should start manufacturing them locally. This tells us how devastating the prices of RAM and SSDs are going to be in the future. In fact, the prices of AI chips are also skyrocketing, which means AI-focused laptops are going to have an even crazier selling price than regular modern laptops.
Geo-Political Challenges
Supply chain is basically the whole network that starts from getting the product ready and then getting it to the customers’/end-users’ hands. Now, the very first step of this process (that is, sourcing raw material) has been facing certain glitches. This is because a lot of semiconductor materials are not easily available. Why? Let’s collectively blame the geopolitical conditions of the world right now.
This is because China wants authority over Taiwan. And just you guess which country’s the global leader in advanced semiconductor manufacturing? Taiwan! Hence, this tension is causing some massive disruption in the supply chain.
Heavy Shipping & Logistics Costs
The shipping and logistics costs have yet to see a decline ever since Covid. Adding these costs on top of the already expensive costs of imported laptops, the end price supposed to be borne by Pakistani buyers is more than it was pre-pandemic. Another reason for the high laptop prices is the undue delay in shipments, especially at ports in Taiwan, China, and South Korea.
Since a lot of ships arrive at the same time at these ports, there’s an issue of time management, which indirectly causes anticipation among retailers globally. This basically gives rise to something called the ‘scarcity effect’ when the laptops are not available in large quantities. Thus, high-demand, low-supply, and boom! Prices are going sky-high.
Exchange Rate Impact
Currency fluctuations affect the price of imports in Pakistan all year long. So honestly, it’s not that big of a shocker. The reason for this frequent fluctuation is that we pay for our imports in USD. When the value of PKR goes down (compared to USD), the importers have to pay more in PKR. Naturally, they don’t personally bear this cost and transfer it to the end-users.
And it’s not just the case for imported laptops. It is a fact that Pakistan is pretty behind when it comes to local hardware manufacturing. So even for laptops that are ‘made in Pakistan’, the major bulk of hardware components are imported from foreign countries like China, the USA, Vietnam, and the UAE, among a few others. Regardless of the country, the price is paid in dollars, hence the hefty price hike.
What Rising Laptop Price Means for Consumers?
Rising laptop prices are never a good omen, we tell you. It’s always the beginning of the annual slump of the tech industry. But as bad as it is this time, the consequences are just as brutal.
Higher Starting Prices
Entry-level laptops used to cost around PKR 45,000-85,000 at the start of 2022. Now the prices have more than doubled. This means first-time buyers (like students and teenagers) will have to save more to get hold of a laptop with basic configurations. And by basic, we mean basic; you should expect MS Office and Chrome to be the only highlights of your laptop.
Less Value for Money
Value in laptops means more advanced features that justify the price you just paid. Sadly, you’ll be getting less value for the money you’ll be paying for your laptop in 2026. The reason is pretty evident. The RAM and SSD shortage will not let you enjoy memory and storage perks as you did pre-price-pandemic.
Compromised Performance
As a result of the minimized configuration in laptops nowadays, the overall performance will suffer the most. Your laptops will struggle in terms of multitasking. System lags will occur more frequently, even if your workload is light, not tight. There’ll be less space for storage, and boy, don’t get us started on the response time due to weaker processors.
Longer Upgrade Cycles
Before the price pandemic hit, most Pakistanis, instead of upgrading their laptops, used to upgrade different components. For example, they’d upgrade the RAM capacity or storage capacity to save a few bucks. There were some users who’d upgrade their devices (mainly tech-enthusiasts). Now, they won’t be able to upgrade their laptops as easily, thanks to the high upgrade costs. This would result in higher repairs and lower laptop life-cycles.
Turning to Second-Hand Laptops
When brand-new laptops become out-of-budget, users have no other option but to go for the used laptops. While it is good from a sustainability POV, the specs would come with some faults. So, be ready to experience battery health and warranty limitations with your newly-purchased second-hand laptops.
Final Verdict - Are Laptop Prices Going Up or Down?
Laptop prices in Pakistan are going up! The global shortage of semiconductor raw material and logistic delay are to thank. Not to forget, the USD to PKR conversion and a certain country poking a certain other to block supply. Regardless of the factors, laptops were and still are an investment. Just that now, they’ve become an expensive investment.
Not everyone can afford it, we get it. But laptops are a necessity that you’re bound to have to move with the world. So, from where we see it, you’ve got two options. Save your money now and suffer laptop-less. Or, you could bear the toxic hit now and use your laptop to make more money. We recommend the latter because without a laptop, you can neither study, freelance, nor survive in a corporate setting.
