In Shenzhen offline malls multiple laptop brands have raised retail prices since
the start of the year; excluding government subsidies, price increases on
brand-name complete systems are materially smaller than the near-50% hikes seen
in locally assembled offline PCs. The price move is shifting some demand from
new machines to the second‑hand market and repairs: Huaqiangbei reports a marked
summer uptick in used-laptop inquiries as office workers and students postpone
new purchases. Repair and upgrade work — notably HDD/SSD and memory expansion —
has risen noticeably, boosting service and component demand for the repair
channel.