Global PC shipments fell 20.1% in Q3 as early stockpiling drained demand
IDC counted 62.7 million PC shipments worldwide in the third quarter of 2026, down 20.1% year on year and 9.1% from the second quarter. Omdia reported a steeper 21.2% annual fall, to 58.1 million units; both firms linked the slump to purchases brought forward earlier in the year, supply constraints and higher prices.
Bottom line — IDC expects prices to ease only modestly and briefly, while Omdia forecasts shipments will fall 24% in Q4.
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IDC said Lenovo shipped 14.9 million PCs, down 22.6%; HP shipped 10.3 million, down 30.9%, and Dell shipped 7.6 million, down 25%.
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IDC put Apple’s decline at 11.3% and ASUS’s at 8.6%, smaller falls than those of the three largest suppliers.
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Omdia measured desktop shipments down 23.5% to 11.7 million and laptop shipments down 20.6% to 46.4 million.
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Omdia analyst Ben Yeh said memory and storage account for nearly 40% of PC costs, against a typical 15%, and reported component price rises of more than fourfold.
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Omdia expects PC shipments to decline 7% in 2027.