Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2026. Read them in this 18th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
By Stuart Pladgeman, VP Sales, 10ZiG
After five years of working with the legacy of pandemic PC buying, businesses are ready to redo their endpoint buying strategy by looking beyond traditional PCs. They’re also ready to explore agreements that give them more control over VDI licensing, as a budget-conscious sentiment continues. IDC notes this cooling trend, predicting less than one percent growth through 2029 in the commercial PC market. Tariffs’ effect on pricing and Windows 11 migration winding down are also contributors.
Businesses in the market for a fresh approach have several factors in their favor. The shakeout in the VDI market has opened new options for businesses looking for more competitive agreements. Add to this the evolution of thin clients, with capabilities to support the growing number of power users working with AI large data sets and high intensity graphics.
In 2026 businesses will focus on better VDI related licensing agreements, improving security, ease of endpoint management, sustainability and how best to leverage thin clients to manage AI workloads. Providers, vendors, and channel businesses who are in sync with these initiatives will capture market share as the VDI marketplace continues to grow and evolve.
When the Price is Right
Multi-year vendor-locked agreements, overall price hikes, costly add-on bills, and inferior performance are motivating businesses to look at more flexible VDI options, including cloud-native solutions that offer subscription models and avoid add-on fees. On the hardware side, the motivations are similar, spurring more interest in thin and zero clients who are the natural fit for the remote work and cloud computing environments. Thin clients offer lower TCO, flexible and scalable subscription options and enable businesses to deploy virtual desktops by connecting to the cloud or data centers. All of these attributes will drive market growth, estimated to grow 8.2%, to $6.2 billion from 2025 to 2031. This is up considerably from the 2024 market estimate of $3.6 billion.
Thin but Tough on Security
Thin clients are gaining popularity by solving the evergreen issue of protecting data in flow in a global remote workforce environment that is always at risk of Shadow IT/AI and the emerging threats of AI-engineered cyber-attacks. Industries that process large volumes of sensitive data, including government, healthcare, and banking, are key users. Thin clients provide more security by reducing the attack surface with a read-only file system OS that provides access to a virtual desktop, application, or web application. Since no data is stored locally, with critical data stored on a centralized server, it prevents a localized attack compromising the larger network. It is a powerful defense against unsecured devices, unauthorized files and social engineering threats leading to a costly disruption. Businesses can also save budget since a modern thin client eliminates the need to purchase local anti-virus or other licensed or subscription-based products.
Simplifying Management
Finding the IT staff and time to manage thousands of endpoints hasn’t been easy for a number of years and it’s not going to improve in 2026. Businesses, in the face of AI, cyber threats and a growing skills shortage, are shifting focus to hiring AI and AI adjacent skilled people and restructuring their workforce. Managing endpoints is an IT skill not on the priority list. That leaves businesses to look for solutions that can simplify endpoint management. In the case of thin clients, businesses can save IT time with a central management solution that can deploy internally or externally to the network and quickly scale as needed. Compared to a traditional desktop deployment the time savings is exponential. Centralized management also streamlines adherence to compliance and security protocols, adding a valuable layer to cyber threat defense.
Green Endpoints
Sustainability initiatives will continue to be a business goal. Longer lasting, solid state and energy efficient thin clients offer a means to support sustainability by reducing power consumption. They experience an extremely low failure rate and have an expected lifespan of 7-10 years. Multiplied over thousands of endpoints, the budget and sustainability impact is significant. Alternatively, businesses can use repurposing software to extend the life of the desktop, eliminating the need to replace and dispose of existing hardware, thus further reducing carbon footprint.
AI Comes to Thin Clients
In 2026 businesses will start to look at thin clients as a means of efficiently delivering AI workloads, whether through VDI or DaaS. Thin clients can move AI workloads to a server or the cloud, saving businesses the need to replace existing hardware. The costly alternative is running AI locally and having to purchase new hardware. From the sustainability perspective, thin clients consume less footprint than new hardware built for AI, another benefit.
A Year of Refresh and Changes
With AI workloads gathering steam, businesses head into the New Year with strategic choices to make in their AI, VDI and endpoint initiatives. Thin clients will play a role in this evolving market as businesses look for more attractive licensing and subscription models to support VDI environments and AI workloads. It will be a more competitive environment favoring providers who are willing to offer desired economies and deal flexibility.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Stuart Pladgeman is the Vice President of Sales at 10ZiG Technology, where he has played a key role for 20 years in the company’s growth and global presence in thin and zero client endpoint computing. Since joining 10ZiG in 2005, Stuart has led sales strategy, strengthened channel relationships, and worked closely with partners across the EU and North America.
