Omdia: Global PC Shipments Fall 21% in 3Q26 as Pull-Forward Demand Subsides

Omdia says DRAM and SSDs now account for nearly 40% of PC costs, compared with a typical level of around 15%.

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LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The latest research from Omdia shows that worldwide shipments of desktops, notebooks, and workstations declined sharply in 3Q26, falling 21.2% year-on-year to 58.1 million units. Desktop shipments (including desktop workstations) fell 23.5% to 11.7 million units, while notebook shipments (including mobile workstations) declined 20.6% to 46.4 million units.

In 3Q26, Global PC shipments faced sharpest decline since 1Q23

“After sustained pull-forward activity buoyed the PC market in the first half of the year, this sharp drop in shipment volumes comes as no surprise,” said Ishan Dutt, Research Director at Omdia. “The scale of the decline is consistent with what the industry signaled throughout the last earnings cycle, with leading OEMs forecasting double-digit unit contractions in H2 and retailers reporting double-digit increases in average selling prices (ASPs) alongside falling sales. The impact of upstream component cost increases has now fully worked its way through to end-market pricing, with consumers and IT decision-makers responding accordingly. On the supply side, vendors and their ODM partners began scaling back production in 3Q, while channel partners continued working through elevated inventory levels.”

Supply chain challenges have intensified in recent months. Alongside continued increases in memory and storage prices, shortages of processors, graphics cards, and numerous IC components have made supply chain and inventory management more difficult for PC vendors.

“The cost share of DRAM and SSDs in PCs has risen sharply from a typical level of around 15% to nearly 40%, with price increases more than fourfold,” said Ben Yeh, Principal Analyst at Omdia. “Although PC vendors have raised prices multiple times over the past few quarters, these increases have yet to fully offset the impact. These pressures are expected to persist, and the current decline may be just the beginning of a new downward cycle.”

Omdia forecasts the PC market to decline 24% year-over-year in 4Q26 with a further 7% decline expected for full-year 2027.

Worldwide desktop and notebook shipments (market share and annual growth) Omdia PC Market Pulse: 3Q26
Vendor	3Q26 shipments	3Q26 market share	3Q25 shipments	3Q25 market share	Annual growth
Lenovo	14,933	25.7%	19,360	26.3%	-22.9%
HP	10,344	17.8%	15,000	20.4%	-31.0%
Dell	7,582	13.1%	10,106	13.7%	-25.0%
Apple	6,774	11.7%	7,637	10.4%	-11.3%
Asus	5,389	9.3%	5,772	7.8%	-6.6%
Others	13,052	22.5%	15,831	21.5%	-17.6%
Total	58,074	100.0%	73,707	100.0%	-21.2%
Note: Unit shipments in thousands. Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding. Source: Omdia PC Horizon Service (sell-in shipments), October 2026

Despite most leading vendors experiencing double-digit declines in 3Q26, the rankings remained largely unchanged both sequentially and year on year. Lenovo remained in the top spot, shipping 14.9 million units and maintaining a 26% market share. HP recorded the largest decline among the top vendors at 31%, ranking second with shipments of 10.3 million units. Its market share fell to 18%, nearly three percentage points lower than a year earlier.

Dell remained in third place, shipping 7.6 million units accounting for 13% of the market. Apple held fourth position, with shipments of 6.8 million units, down 11% year on year. However, it gained more than one percentage point of market share as its premium positioning helped limit the impact of higher prices. Asus rounded out the top five, recording the smallest decline among the leading vendors, with shipments of 5.4 million units and its market share improving to 9.3% year on year.

ABOUT OMDIA

Omdia, part of TechTarget, Inc. d/b/a Informa TechTarget (Nasdaq: TTGT), is a technology research and advisory group. Our deep knowledge of tech markets grounded in real conversations with industry leaders and hundreds of thousands of data points, make our market intelligence our clients’ strategic advantage. From R&D to ROI, we identify the greatest opportunities and move the industry forward.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261009296871/en/

Fasiha Khan: fasiha.khan@omdia.com
Eric Thoo: eric.thoo@omdia.com

Source: Omdia

Key Terms

dram technical

A dram is a small, traditional unit used to measure either mass or liquid volume in manufacturing and pharmaceuticals — roughly 1.77 grams for a weight dram or about 3.7 milliliters for a fluid dram, similar to a small teaspoon or a couple of drops. Investors care because dram-based measurements affect drug dosing, packaging sizes, labeling compliance and raw-material usage, which in turn influence production costs, inventory counts and regulatory risk.

odm partners technical

Companies that design and manufacture products on behalf of another firm, then deliver finished goods that the hiring firm sells under its own brand. ODM partners typically develop the product’s engineering and specifications (sometimes retaining design ownership or shared intellectual property) and handle production, while the client controls branding, marketing, and distribution; this differs from an OEM relationship where the buyer provides the design and the manufacturer only produces it.