Global PC Shipments Fall 20% in Q3
Vendors cut production as memory costs climb and channel inventory stays high.
Updated on Nov. 2, 2026 in Computers
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Global PC shipments totaled 62.7 million units in the third quarter of 2026, down 20.1 percent from 78.5 million a year earlier. Vendors scaled back production during the quarter after elevated channel inventory built up earlier in the year.
Why it matters
The decline reflects strained supply and weak demand at the same time: memory and storage components, which account for roughly 40 percent of PC manufacturing costs, have become more expensive as capacity is pulled toward AI-related products. Vendors have responded with multiple price increases, which may further slow consumer purchases.
Desktop shipments fell 23.5 percent to 11.7 million units and laptop shipments fell 20.6 percent to 46.4 million units in Q3 2026, with shipments down 9.1 percent sequentially from 68.2 million in Q2. Omdia's tracking, which reports 58.1 million devices, differs from IDC's total, and the source does not reconcile the two counts.
The players
IDC
International Data Corporation is a global market research firm whose quarterly tracker is widely cited for PC shipment figures.
Omdia
Omdia is a global technology research and consulting firm that publishes its own quarterly PC shipment tracking.
The details
Competition for manufacturing capacity in memory and storage has constrained consumer device production since 2025, and vendors implemented several price increases to offset component cost pressure. Channel inventory stayed elevated while demand remained limited.
Timeline
Q3 2025: baseline quarter for the year-over-year comparison
Q2 2026: 68.2 million units shipped, the base for the sequential decline
Q3 2026: shipments fell 20.1 percent year-over-year
Q4 2026: Omdia projects a 24 percent year-over-year decline
The Tech Race
The contraction shows how the AI buildout is redirecting memory supply away from consumer hardware, pressuring PC makers that compete on component cost. Omdia projects a 7 percent decline for 2027 and warns memory shortages could persist through 2028.
Higher memory and storage costs have prompted repeated PC price increases, so buyers may face higher prices for new machines through the coming quarters. Omdia's projected 24 percent drop for the next quarter suggests supply and pricing pressure could persist.
The takeaway
Expect PC prices to stay elevated while memory supply is directed toward AI hardware, and weigh purchases against that trend. Watch quarterly shipment reports from IDC and Omdia for signs of whether the decline is easing.
Further reading
For more on the hardware makers involved, see the Computers section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by RocketNews.
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