Omdia and Gartner data: Global PC shipments in Q3 2026 fell by more than 20% year-on-year

According to data published by market research firm Omdia, in the third quarter of 2026, global shipments of desktops, laptops and workstations totaled approximately 58.1 million units, down 21.2% year-on-year. Of this, desktop and desktop workstation shipments were approximately 11.7 million units, down 23.5% year-on-year; laptop and mobile workstation shipments were approximately 46.4 million units, down 20.6% year-on-year. Data from another research firm, Gartner, shows that global PC shipments in the same period were approximately 55.4 million units, down 22.4% year-on-year. The statistical methodologies of different firms differ somewhat, but they all point to the same conclusion: the PC market is experiencing one of the most severe quarterly declines in recent years.

This market downturn is closely related to the rapid expansion of the artificial intelligence industry. As training and inference workloads for large AI models continue to grow, data center demand for high-bandwidth memory, server DRAM and storage devices has increased substantially. Major memory chip manufacturers such as Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron are directing an increasing share of resources toward the more profitable data center market, while consumer electronics manufacturers are forced to contend with tight supply and rising procurement costs.

Changes in memory prices have already visibly affected whole-device costs. Omdia notes that DRAM and solid-state drives previously typically accounted for about 15% of the bill of materials for a complete PC, but that share is now close to 40%, with prices for the relevant components rising more than fourfold. Gartner also said that in the second quarter of 2026, DRAM costs rose about fivefold year-on-year, and the related costs have since gradually been passed through to retail device prices.

For PC manufacturers, raising prices cannot fully solve the problem. On the one hand, manufacturers need to raise prices to offset rising component costs; on the other hand, higher prices weaken consumers' willingness to buy. Budget-constrained users in particular, when entry-level laptops and low-priced desktops are no longer attractive, often choose to keep using their existing devices rather than upgrade immediately.

Component shortages have also changed manufacturers' product strategies. Because supply of some memory, processors, graphics cards and other integrated circuits is tight, manufacturers have begun prioritizing higher-margin products and reducing resources allocated to low-priced models. Gartner believes that reduced supply of low-priced devices and higher overall prices are among the important reasons consumers are postponing device replacements. At the same time, enterprise customers are also more inclined to concentrate budgets on purpose-specific devices such as workstations and AI PCs, rather than carrying out large-scale refreshes of ordinary office computers.

The market decline was also affected by advance purchasing in the first half of 2026. Because manufacturers, channel partners and enterprise customers expected component prices to continue rising, some purchasing demand was brought forward, supporting shipments in the first half. When this pull-forward demand faded in the third quarter, the market fell back markedly. At the same time, channels are still working through previously accumulated inventory, further constraining manufacturers' shipment performance.

Looking at the performance of major PC manufacturers, Lenovo continued to hold the top position in the global market, but its shipments also fell significantly. Omdia data shows that Lenovo shipped about 14.9 million units in the third quarter, with a market share of about 26%, a year-on-year decline close to that of the overall market. HP shipped about 10.3 million units, ranking second, but down about 31% year-on-year, one of the largest declines among major manufacturers. Dell shipped about 7.6 million units, ranking third; Apple shipped about 6.8 million units, ranking fourth; and Asus ranked fifth with about 5.4 million units.

Although Apple was also affected by the market downturn, its performance was relatively steady. Omdia data shows that Apple's Mac shipments fell about 11% year-on-year, less than most major competitors, and its market share increased. Research firms believe that Apple's relatively high-end product positioning gives it a certain buffer in an environment of rising costs. Different firms' estimates of Apple's shipments and decline are not entirely consistent, but the overall trend is the same: Apple has been relatively less affected.

Looking ahead, research firms remain cautious about the short-term outlook for the PC market. Omdia expects global PC shipments in the fourth quarter of 2026 may fall about 24% year-on-year, and full-year 2027 may decline by a further 7% or so. This means the impact of rising memory and storage device prices may not disappear in the short term, and PC manufacturers will also need to deal with weak consumer demand, channel inventory adjustments and high supply chain costs.

For consumers, low-priced PCs may become even harder to buy in the period ahead, and some mainstream models may continue to rise in price. However, if channel partners step up promotions out of concern about inventory buildup, some products may still see short-term discounts. But such promotions may not be enough to return whole-device prices to the level of a year ago.

The sharp decline in the PC market also reflects another side of the AI industry's expansion: while AI data centers gain more memory and computing resources, ordinary consumers face rising costs to buy computers. Although AI PCs are regarded by manufacturers as an important product to drive the next replacement wave, with whole-device prices continuing to rise and supply of low-priced models shrinking, whether AI features can prompt enough consumers to replace their devices remains to be seen.