Global personal computer shipments declined 21% year-over-year during the third quarter of 2026, according to new industry data from market research firm Counterpoint Research. Total shipments fell to 57 million units during the period, down from more than 70 million units recorded in Q3 2025.
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The market contraction reflects a quarter-over-quarter reduction of 13.8%, indicating that the industry’s downturn is accelerating rapidly. Counterpoint projects that the trend will deepen through the fourth quarter, forecasting a 27% year-over-year decline in Q4.
The contraction is largely driven by soaring component costs, particularly sharp price increases in memory modules, fuelled by sustained artificial intelligence infrastructure demand, alongside expanding international tariffs. These compounding factors have elevated end-user prices and forced both commercial and retail buyers to extend existing hardware refresh cycles.
Analysts note that the severe drop follows a period of heavy pre-buy activity in late 2025 and early 2026, when consumers accelerated PC purchases to front-run anticipated price hikes. However, Counterpoint cautions that high component pricing will likely keep shipment volumes suppressed through 2027.
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While overall shipments have retrenched, major manufacturers show varying degrees of resilience across different product tiers:
- Lenovo: Retains its spot as the global market leader despite suffering a 23% year-over-year decline.
- HP and Dell: Recorded significant contractions, with HP shipments falling 31% year-over-year and Dell declining 25%.
- Apple: Outperformed the broader market with a reduced decline of 11%, expanding its global market share—a boost analysts attribute to strong entry-level demand for the MacBook Neo.
- ASUS: Demonstrated the highest resilience among top-tier hardware vendors, posting the smallest contraction at just 7% year-over-year.
