Worldwide PC shipments totaled 55,4-million units in the third quarter of 2026 – down 22,4% from the third quarter of 2025 – according to preliminary results from Gartner.
“The impact of higher memory and storage costs is now fully reflected in PC pricing,” says Namrata Banerjee, principal, Research at Gartner. “DRAM costs surged five times year-over-year in the second quarter, and PC vendors passed those higher component costs on to customers, driving the steep decline in PC shipments during the third quarter.
“PC shipments have fallen to levels last seen in early 2023, though the market dynamics were noticeably different,” says Banerjee. “Rather than excess inventory, the decline in the third quarter of 2026 was driven by higher prices, vendor-led reprioritisation of scarce components and a shift toward higher-priced configurations. The resulting reduction in the availability of lower-cost devices made replacement purchases less affordable for consumers, while businesses focused spending on targeted investments such as workstations and AI PCs rather than broad-based PC deployments.”
All of the top six worldwide PC vendors experienced shipment declines in the third quarter of 2026.
Lenovo remained the market leader, with shipments falling 22,4% year-over-year in line with the market. Its supply chain scale and broader AI and infrastructure portfolio helped preserve its competitive position.
HP Inc recorded the steepest decline with shipments down 30,9% but maintained its number two position. Its relatively high exposure to price-sensitive consumer and mainstream commercial segments contributed to the decline.
Apple recorded the lowest shipment decline of the top six vendors and gained 1,7 percentage points of market share, supported by its portfolio of mainstream MacBooks.
Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 3Q26 (Thousands of Units)
| Company | 3Q26 Shipments | 3Q26 Market Share (%) | 3Q25 Shipments | 3Q25 Market Share (%) | 3Q26-3Q25 Growth (%) |
| Lenovo | 14,993 | 27.1 | 19,330 | 27.1 | -22.4 |
| HP Inc. | 10,366 | 18.7 | 15,005 | 21.0 | -30.9 |
| Dell | 7,583 | 13.7 | 10,168 | 14.3 | -25.4 |
| Apple | 5,835 | 10.5 | 6,279 | 8.8 | -7.1 |
| ASUS | 4,677 | 8.5 | 5,374 | 7.5 | -13.0 |
| Acer | 3,866 | 7.0 | 4,354 | 6.1 | -11.2 |
| Others | 8,030 | 14.5 | 9,037 | 15.1 | -25.6 |
| Total | 55,351 | 100.0 | 71,301 | 100.0 | -22.4 |
Notes: Data includes desktop and laptop PCs that are equipped with Windows, macOS and Chrome OS. All data is estimated based on a preliminary study. Final estimates will be subject to change. The statistics are based on shipments selling into channels. Numbers may not add up to totals shown due to rounding.
Source: Gartner (October 2026)