PC shipments drop 20.1% year-over-year in Q3 2026, steepest decline since early 2023

Global PC shipments fell 20.1% year-over-year in Q3 2026 to 62.7 million units, the steepest decline in a third quarter on record, according to IDC. The industry also shipped 9.1% fewer PCs than in Q2 2026, when 68.2 million units shipped. Analysts noted that Q3 typically sees an increase over Q2, making the drop more notable.

Omdia reported a 21.2% year-over-year decline in global shipments to 58.1 million devices. Within that total, desktop PC shipments (including desktop workstations) decreased 23.5% to 11.7 million units, and laptop shipments (including laptop workstations) declined 20.6% to 46.4 million units.

IDC attributed the decline in part to vendors and sales channels stocking up earlier in the year in anticipation of memory price hikes, leaving minimal demand for Q3. Analyst Jitesh Ubrani said channels are now concerned about carrying excess inventory into a market with high prices suppressing demand.

Omdia research director Ishan Dutt said the Q3 drop was expected, citing upstream component cost increases that have fully passed through to end-market pricing. Vendors and their ODM partners began scaling back production in Q3, while channel partners worked through elevated inventory levels.

Memory and storage now represent nearly 40% of the bill of materials for PC manufacturing, up from a typical 15%, according to Omdia principal analyst Ben Yeh. He added that PC prices have increased more than fourfold, though these increases have not fully offset cost pressures.

Omdia expects PC shipments to decline 24% year-over-year next quarter and then 7% in 2027. Executives from Micron and Samsung have indicated that component shortages could continue through 2028.