PC shipments Q3 2026 came in at 62.7 million units worldwide, down 20.1% from a year earlier, IDC reported on 8 October 2026. Memory and storage now account for nearly 40% of a PC’s component cost, up from about 15%. Omdia, a rival tracker, put the quarter’s decline at 21.2%.
What the Two Trackers Counted
Both research firms recorded a drop of about a fifth, but they counted different totals: 62.7 million units against 58.1 million.
IDC, the Massachusetts market-research firm that publishes the Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker, released its preliminary figures on 8 October 2026. It counted 62.7 million units for the third quarter, against 78.5 million in the same quarter of 2025, and said shipments also fell 9.1% from the second quarter of 2026 — unusual, because the third quarter is normally the larger of the two.
Omdia, the London-based research arm of Informa, published its own count a day later, on 9 October 2026. Its figure of 58.1 million units covers desktops, notebooks and workstations, and represents a 21.2% year-on-year fall.
| Measure | IDC | Omdia |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 shipments | 62.7 million units | 58.1 million units |
| Year-on-year change | -20.1% | -21.2% |
| Q3 2025 comparison base | 78.5 million units | Not given in release |
| Change from Q2 2026 | -9.1% | Not given in release |
| Apple shipments | 5.9 million units | 6.8 million units |
| Date published | 8 October 2026 | 9 October 2026 |
The gap is a definition difference, not a contradiction. The two firms draw the boundary of the PC market differently, which is why their Apple totals differ by almost a million units while both describe the same direction of travel. Neither set of figures is final; both are preliminary.
Omdia also split the quarter by form factor, which IDC’s release did not:
- Desktops, including desktop workstations: 11.7 million units, down 23.5% year on year.
- Notebooks, including mobile workstations: 46.4 million units, down 20.6% year on year.
Why Memory and Storage Costs Are Driving the Fall
The immediate cause is a hangover: PC makers and retailers bought stock early in 2026 to get ahead of memory-driven price rises, which left the third quarter short of buyers.
Jitesh Ubrani, research director for consumer devices at IDC, put it directly in IDC’s preliminary third-quarter figures: “What we’re seeing is the result of the strong first half pull-in.” He added that “channels are now worried about carrying too much inventory into a market where high prices are suppressing demand.”
Underneath the stockpiling sits a component problem. Ben Yeh, principal analyst at Omdia, said in Omdia’s third-quarter release that “the cost share of DRAM and SSDs in PCs has risen sharply from a typical level of around 15% to nearly 40%”, with “price increases more than fourfold”. DRAM is the working memory a PC uses while running programs; an SSD is its storage drive.
IDC’s release ties those price points to the build-out of AI data centres, which competes for the same manufacturing capacity. The squeeze has already reshaped the supply side: Micron shut down its consumer memory brand Crucial to redirect supply toward AI data-centre customers, and newer entrants such as China’s CXMT have moved their G5 DRAM into mass production against that backdrop.
Which PC Makers Lost the Most Ground
HP fell hardest of the top five, down 30.9%, while ASUS and Apple lost the least.
| Vendor | Q3 2026 units | Q3 2026 share | Q3 2025 units | Year-on-year change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lenovo | 14.9 million | 23.8% | 19.3 million | -22.6% |
| HP Inc | 10.3 million | 16.5% | 15.0 million | -30.9% |
| Dell Technologies | 7.6 million | 12.1% | 10.1 million | -25.0% |
| Apple | 5.9 million | 9.5% | 6.7 million | -11.3% |
| ASUS | 5.5 million | 8.7% | 6.0 million | -8.6% |
| Others | 18.4 million | 29.4% | 21.4 million | -14.0% |
| Total | 62.7 million | 100.0% | 78.5 million | -20.1% |
Lenovo, HP and Dell shed 4.2 percentage points of combined market share between them, falling from 56.6% to 52.4% on IDC’s numbers. Apple moved the other way: it shipped 800,000 fewer Macs than a year earlier, yet its share rose from 8.5% to 9.5%, because the market around it shrank faster than it did. ASUS gained share on the same arithmetic.
What This Means for PC and Laptop Prices
IDC expects prices to stay well above year-ago levels through the rest of 2026 and into 2027, with only short-term relief likely.
Ubrani said channel partners’ worry about excess inventory could produce promotions in the near term, but that these would not bring prices near last year’s levels. The figures behind that judgement are specific:
- Component cost share: DRAM and SSDs have moved from roughly 15% of a PC’s cost to nearly 40%, according to Omdia.
- Memory price change: Omdia puts the increase at more than fourfold.
- Total material cost: PC material costs have risen more than 40% across all price points, Omdia says.
- Direction of travel: IDC expects elevated prices to persist, with channel promotions offering temporary relief rather than a reset.
That cost shift is visible on spec sheets already, where memory and storage tiers carry much of a machine’s price. Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Ultra price ladder starts at $2,599.99 for a 24GB configuration rather than a high-memory one — the kind of laddering that becomes steeper as DRAM costs rise.
On buying advice, the picture is thinner than the price data. The technology site Dataconomy reported on 9 October 2026 that IDC advised shoppers who can delay a purchase to wait at least another year for prices to normalise. That guidance does not appear in the wording of IDC’s own release, which goes only as far as saying prices will stay elevated, so it rests on a single outlet’s reporting.
How Long Analysts Expect the Squeeze to Last
Omdia expects the decline to deepen before it eases, forecasting a 24% year-on-year fall in the fourth quarter of 2026 and a further 7% fall across 2027.
Yeh’s assessment in the Omdia release was that “these pressures are expected to persist, and the current decline may be just the beginning of a new downward cycle.” Ubrani’s framing at IDC was similar: “with macro conditions worsening, the risk is that the outlook for the next few quarters gets worse before it gets better.”
Ishan Dutt, a research director at Omdia, said the quarter’s shape was predictable: “after sustained pull-forward activity buoyed the PC market in the first half of the year, this sharp drop in shipment volumes comes as no surprise.”
As of 11 October 2026, neither IDC nor Omdia has published a date on which it expects memory prices or PC prices to return to 2025 levels. Both firms’ third-quarter shipment figures remain preliminary and are subject to revision, and Omdia’s fourth-quarter and 2027 numbers are forecasts rather than results.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Far Did PC Shipments Fall in Q3 2026?
IDC counted 62.7 million units shipped worldwide, a fall of 20.1% from 78.5 million a year earlier. Omdia, using a different market definition, counted 58.1 million units and a 21.2% fall.
Why Are PC Prices Rising in 2026?
Memory and storage have become far more expensive. Omdia says DRAM and SSD prices have risen more than fourfold, taking those two components from about 15% of a PC’s cost to nearly 40%. IDC links the rise to competition for manufacturing capacity from AI data centres.
Why Do IDC and Omdia Report Different PC Shipment Numbers?
The two firms define the PC market differently, so their totals and their vendor counts diverge. The clearest example in the third quarter is Apple, which IDC puts at 5.9 million units and Omdia at 6.8 million.
Which PC Maker Lost the Most Shipments in Q3 2026?
HP Inc saw the steepest fall among the top five, down 30.9% to 10.3 million units. Lenovo remained the largest vendor at 14.9 million units despite a 22.6% decline.
When Will PC and Memory Prices Come Down?
Neither IDC nor Omdia has given a date. Omdia expects shipments to fall a further 24% in the fourth quarter of 2026 and 7% across 2027, and describes the cost pressures as likely to persist.
