// ARS TECHNICA — HARDWARE & GADGET
PC shipments fall 20.1 percent in “sharpest decline” since Q1 2023
“The current decline may be just the beginning of a new downward cycle.”
PC shipments saw a steep drop of about 20 percent in Q3 2026, analysts reported this week.
The industry saw its “sharpest decline since “Q1 2023,” Omdia said in an announcement toady. Global shipments of laptops, desktops, and workstations fell 21.2 percent year over year (YoY) to 58.1 million devices, the analyst said.
Desktop PC shipments (including desktop workstations) decreased 23.5 percent to 11.7 million units, and laptop shipments (including laptop workstations) declined 20.6 percent to 46.4 million, per Omdia.
IDC shared similar findings. The analyst said this week that PC shipments fell 20.1 percent YoY to 62.7 million units, compared to 78.5 million in Q3 2025.
The industry also shipped 9.1 percent fewer PCs in Q3 2026 than it did in Q2 2026, when 68.2 million units shipped, per IDC.
The 20.1 percent YoY decline is the biggest drop that the IDC has ever recorded during a year’s third quarter, the IDC said, per PCMag.
The drop in shipments is also notable considering that Q3 PC shipments usually surpass Q2’s numbers.
“If looking at all quarters, then we have seen other quarters in recent years with larger declines, such as 2022 Q4, which was -28.2 percent, and 2023 Q1, which was -28.7 percent. Both were coming off pandemic highs,” Jitesh Ubrani, research director for consumer devices at IDC, told PCMag.
In its announcement this week, IDC said that many PC vendors and sales channels stocked up on PC shipments earlier in the year in anticipation of memory price hikes. That meant minimal demand remained during Q3.