Computing

PC Shipments Fall Over 20% in Sharpest Drop Since Q1 2023

Global shipments of laptops, desktops, and workstations saw a steep decline in the third quarter of 2026, marking the industry's sharpest drop since Q1 2023 as high component prices and component shortages suppress market demand.

Radwan AbdulhadiEditor and technology writer

Published: October 10, 2026 · Updated: October 10, 2026 · 3 min read

PC Shipments Fall Over 20% in Sharpest Drop Since Q1 2023 — Image: Ars Technica

Sharpest Third-Quarter Decline on Record

PC shipments saw a steep drop of about 20 percent in Q3 2026, analysts reported this week, marking what industry trackers describe as a historically difficult period. According to an announcement from Omdia, global shipments of laptops, desktops, and workstations fell 21.2 percent year-over-year to reach 58.1 million devices.

Detailed breakdowns from Omdia showed that desktop PC shipments, including desktop workstations, decreased by 23.5 percent down to 11.7 million units. Meanwhile, laptop shipments, which include laptop workstations, declined 20.6 percent to 46.4 million units.

Independent findings shared by IDC supported these figures, reporting that PC shipments fell 20.1 percent year-over-year to 62.7 million units, compared to 78.5 million units in the third quarter of 2025. According to PCMag , IDC stated that this 20.1 percent year-over-year decline represents the biggest drop the organization has ever recorded during a year's third quarter.

Inventory Stockpiling and Softening Demand

The drop in shipments is particularly notable because third-quarter figures typically surpass second-quarter numbers. However, IDC noted that the industry actually shipped 9.1 percent fewer PCs in Q3 2026 than it did in Q2 2026, when 68.2 million units were shipped.

In its weekly announcement, IDC explained that many PC vendors and sales channels stocked up on inventory earlier in the year in anticipation of impending memory price hikes. Consequently, minimal demand remained during the third quarter.

Jitesh Ubrani, research director for consumer devices at IDC, noted that sales channels are now worried about carrying too much inventory into a market where high prices are actively suppressing consumer demand. While this could translate into brief promotions and short-term relief, prices are expected to remain elevated.

Component Costs and Upstream Pressures

Omdia research director Ishan Dutt stated that the third quarter drop came as no surprise, pointing out that upstream component cost increases have now fully worked their way through to end-market pricing. On the supply side, vendors and ODM partners began scaling back production during the quarter.

Since 2025, surging market demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and server DRAM tailored for artificial intelligence workloads has severely constrained manufacturing capacity for consumer devices, including personal computers, smartphones, and gaming consoles .

According to Omdia principal analyst Ben Yeh, memory and storage now represent nearly 40 percent of the bill of materials for PC manufacturing, a steep jump from the historical baseline of roughly 15 percent. Yeh noted that PC prices have increased more than fourfold as a result of these structural pressures.

Outlook and Future Supply Constraints

Although PC vendors have raised end-market prices multiple times over recent quarters, these adjustments have not fully offset overall cost impacts. Industry analysts warn that these severe economic pressures are expected to persist, potentially signaling the start of a broader downward cycle for the market.

Omdia projections indicate that global PC shipments will decline by an additional 24 percent year-over-year next quarter, followed by a further 7 percent drop throughout 2027. Compounding these challenges, recent statements from executives at Micron and Samsung suggest that component shortages could continue through 2028 .

Omdia added that alongside ongoing increases in memory and storage prices, shortages affecting processors, graphics cards, and numerous integrated circuit components have made supply chain management increasingly difficult for hardware vendors worldwide.