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Worldwide PC shipments fell 21.2% year over year to 58.1 million in Q3 2026, according to Omdia. Higher memory and storage costs fed into PC prices and weakened buyer demand, but Omdia also points to purchases pulled forward earlier in the year, production cuts and elevated channel inventory. Prices were part of the explanation—not the only established cause.
How sharply did PC shipments fall?
Omdia estimated that worldwide shipments of desktops, notebooks and workstations totaled 58.1 million in Q3 2026, down 21.2% from a year earlier. These are market-tracker estimates, not a government census. The category breakdown was:
| Category | Q3 2026 shipments | Year-over-year change |
|---|---|---|
| Desktops, including desktop workstations | 11.7 million | Down 23.5% |
| Notebooks, including mobile workstations | 46.4 million | Down 20.6% |
Notebooks remained the larger category by shipment volume, while desktop shipments contracted somewhat faster. Omdia reported both figures in its October 9, 2026 release.
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Memory and storage costs pushed prices higher
Omdia said DRAM and SSDs rose from a typical share of around 15% of PC costs to nearly 40%, and that their prices had increased more than fourfold. Those are Omdia’s 2026 figures. Higher component costs put pressure on manufacturers, and price increases passed through to end-market PCs, affecting buyers’ willingness or ability to purchase.
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Omdia Principal Analyst Ben Yeh said vendors had raised prices multiple times over the preceding few quarters, but those increases had not fully offset the cost pressure. The release does not give a PC price index or model-by-model pricing, so it does not quantify how much consumer prices rose.
Some demand had already been pulled forward
Omdia also attributed the decline to purchases brought forward into the first half of 2026. When buyers purchase earlier than planned, that can leave fewer purchases for the following quarter. Research Director Ishan Dutt described the Q3 drop as following sustained pull-forward activity that had buoyed the market in the first half.
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Production and inventory added pressure
Vendors and their manufacturing partners reduced production, while distribution channels continued to work through elevated inventory. Omdia also cited supply-chain challenges. Together, these factors mean the shipment decline cannot be read simply as a direct measure of consumer interest: shipments reflect production and channel flows as well as end-user demand.
Which PC suppliers were hit hardest?
Lenovo remained the largest supplier by Q3 2026 shipments. HP recorded the steepest decline among the leading vendors for which Omdia described the ranking; Asus had the smallest decline among leading vendors. Omdia did not provide a complete year-over-year change for every supplier in the release text.
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| Supplier | Shipments | Market share | Year-over-year change reported by Omdia |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lenovo | 14.9 million | 26% | Not stated in release text |
| HP | 10.3 million | 18% | Down 31% |
| Dell | 7.6 million | 13% | Not stated in release text |
| Apple | 6.8 million | Not stated in release text | Down 11% |
| Asus | 5.4 million | Not stated in release text | Smallest decline among leading vendors; percentage not stated |
All shipment and share figures in the table are Omdia estimates for Q3 2026. The missing rates and shares are not supplied in the release text, so they should not be inferred from the shipment totals.
What did Omdia expect next?
At the time of its October 9, 2026 release, Omdia forecast a 24% year-over-year decline in Q4 2026 worldwide PC shipments and a further 7% decline for full-year 2027. These were forecasts, not reported outcomes. Omdia said component-cost pressures were expected to persist, but the release does not establish when prices or shipments would recover.
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The figures point to a market facing both cost pressure and a demand adjustment after an unusually strong first half. Whether conditions improve depends on factors including component costs, buyer response, production levels and how quickly channels clear inventory; the release does not provide a timetable for those changes.
Source and scope
The figures and explanations in this article come from Omdia’s worldwide PC market release dated October 9, 2026. Its scope covers desktops, notebooks and workstations, with desktop and mobile workstations included in the respective category totals. Omdia’s release does not compare estimates from other tracker firms, so the figures should be understood as Omdia’s estimates rather than a universal census of shipments.
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