Japan is a major manufacturer of components like batteries, and any disruption in the supply chain could impact the price of and demand for PCs, said David Daoud, research director at IDC. The 9.0-magnitude earthquake on March 11 and the ensuing tsunami in Japan have killed more than 13,000 people and caused extensive damage to buildings and factories along Japan's eastern coast. Blackouts and closure of transportation links hurt Japan's supply chain. However, factories are slowly resuming operations after inspection and repairs.

Rising oil prices, driven by the recent conflicts in the Middle East and Libya, could increase the cost of making and supplying computers and components, Daoud said. That could trigger a rise in PC prices.

PC shipments worldwide are already on shaky ground. PC shipments totaled 80.56 million during the first quarter of 2011, declining by 3.2 percent compared to the first quarter of 2010, IDC said in a report released on Wednesday. However, there is not much data to suggest that shipments during the quarter were hurt by events in Japan, Daoud said.

The decline follows a record 26 percent growth during last year's first quarter, which was driven by people upgrading PCs and buying new computers with Microsoft's new Windows 7 OS, which was released to the general public in October 2009.

The earthquake happened toward the end of the first quarter, and PC makers likely had components stashed away to build and supply computers for a couple of weeks, Daoud said. The real impact of Japan's natural disasters will be felt in the second quarter when components start running short, Daoud said.