Global PC Shipments Drop 22% in Q3 2026 as Component Costs Surge

Global PC shipments fell 22.4% year‑over‑year in the third quarter of 2026, dropping to 55.4 million units, according to Gartner. The decline pushed total shipments back to levels last seen in the first quarter of 2023. Unlike earlier slumps caused by excess inventory, this drop was driven mainly by a sharp rise in component costs. Gartner’s Namrata Banerjee noted that DRAM prices jumped five times higher in the second quarter, forcing vendors to raise PC selling prices. Higher memory and storage costs made many buyers postpone replacements, tightening overall demand. All six major PC makers reported lower shipments. Lenovo, the market leader, recorded a 22.4% fall but kept its top rank thanks to its large supply chain. HP Inc. suffered the steepest hit, with shipments down 30.9% because its core consumer and business lines are price‑sensitive. Apple managed a smaller decline and even gained 1.7 percentage points in market share, helped by steady sales of its mainstream MacBook range. Scarce component supply pushed manufacturers to focus on higher‑priced configurations, while corporate customers trimmed spending to AI‑focused PCs and workstations instead of broad roll‑outs. ## Context The PC market’s health is closely tied to semiconductor prices; when memory costs surge, manufacturers either raise prices or cut volumes, which can quickly reduce overall sales.