Global PC Shipments Plunge More Than 20% in Q3 2026, Marking Sharpest Decline in Years

Global PC shipments fell by about 20% in the third quarter of 2026, according to separate reports from Omdia and IDC. The decline affected laptops, desktops and workstations, with both analysts describing an historically weak quarter for the PC market.

Omdia reports 21.2% year-over-year decline

Omdia said global PC shipments fell 21.2% year over year to 58.1 million units in Q3 2026. The firm described the drop as the steepest decline since the first quarter of 2023.

Desktop PC shipments, including desktop workstations, fell 23.5% to 11.7 million units. Laptop shipments, including laptop workstations, declined 20.6% to 46.4 million units, according to Omdia.

IDC also records a historically weak quarter

IDC reported a similar downturn, estimating that PC shipments dropped 20.1% year over year to 62.7 million units in Q3 2026. That compares with 78.5 million units shipped during the third quarter of 2025.

Shipments also fell 9.1% compared with the second quarter of 2026, when the industry shipped 68.2 million PCs. IDC said the 20.1% year-over-year decline was the largest third-quarter drop in its records, according to PCMag.

The decline is particularly notable because PC shipments typically rise in the third quarter compared with the second quarter.

Higher memory prices contributed to excess inventory

IDC said many PC vendors and sales channels stocked up on devices early in the year in anticipation of rising memory prices. That left limited demand during the third quarter and contributed to weaker shipments.

“The channel is currently concerned about bringing too much inventory into a market where high prices are suppressing demand,” Jitesh Ubrani, director of consumer devices research at IDC, said in a statement.

Ubrani also told PCMag that some quarters in recent years experienced larger declines, including a 28.2% drop in Q4 2022 and a 28.7% drop in Q1 2023. However, both declines followed the pandemic-era PC shipment highs.