Global PC shipments fell 20.1% year over year in the third quarter of 2026, to 62.7 million units from 78.5 million a year earlier, according to IDC's preliminary Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker results. Shipments also dropped 9.1% from the second quarter — breaking the usual pattern where Q3 rises on back-to-school demand — and the decline was far steeper than Q2's 3.8% dip.
The vendor scoreboard: everyone shrank
| Vendor | Q3 2026 units | Share | YoY change |
|---|
| Lenovo | 14.9M | 23.8% | -22.6% |
| HP | 10.3M | 16.5% | -30.9% |
| Dell | 7.6M | 12.1% | -25.0% |
| Apple | 5.9M | 9.5% | -11.3% |
| ASUS | 5.5M | 8.7% | -8.6% |
| Others | 18.4M | 29.4% | -14.0% |
Lenovo kept the top spot, but HP posted the steepest fall among the top five at 30.9%. Lenovo, HP, and Dell together lost 4.2 percentage points of market share. Apple and ASUS also shipped fewer machines, but fell less than the market: Mac shipments dropped 11.3% to 5.9 million while Apple's share actually rose from 8.5% to 9.5%, 9to5Mac noted from the same data.
Why shipments collapsed
IDC traces the slump to a demand pull-forward. Earlier in 2026, PC makers and retail channels stocked up aggressively to get ahead of price increases tied to memory costs — costs that IDC links to the artificial intelligence (AI) data-center buildout, which is soaking up memory supply. That early buying lifted the first half of the year and left the third quarter with little momentum: channels spent Q3 working through excess inventory while high prices discouraged buyers, especially consumers.
In short, the PCs were already bought — just earlier, and at rising prices.
A second straight down quarter
This is the second consecutive quarterly decline, and the reversal is sharp: the market shipped 78.5 million units in the same quarter last year. The sequential 9.1% drop is the more unusual signal — third quarters normally rise on back-to-school buying, so a fall from Q2 means channels entered the holiday quarter already overstocked. IDC's commentary notes that channel partners are now worried about carrying too much inventory into a market where elevated prices are suppressing demand, especially among consumer buyers.
What IDC expects next
There is a small silver lining for buyers. IDC says short-term promotions are possible as distributors try to clear the stock they are carrying. But it does not expect prices to return to year-ago levels; they will stay well above them through the rest of 2026 and into 2027. IDC research director Jitesh Ubrani warned that the outlook for the next few quarters "gets worse before it gets better" as global economic conditions weaken. Promotions would bring short-term relief for consumers, IDC says, but the bigger risk it flags is the macro environment, which has worsened since last quarter.
What this means for laptop buyers in the Philippines
IDC's figures are global — it published no Philippine breakdown in this release — but the price pressure behind them is already visible on local shelves. Memory costs pushed Samsung's Galaxy S26 Philippine prices up by ₱10,000 to ₱17,000, and new laptops are landing at premium price points, like the ASUS Zenbook 14 line that starts at ₱76,995.
For Filipino buyers, the practical read is this: if inventory-clearing promotions appear during the 11.11 and holiday sale season, they may be the best prices you will see for a while — IDC's outlook points to elevated prices continuing into 2027, not a return to 2025 levels. Budget buyers should also expect the squeeze to show up first in memory and storage configurations, since those components are driving the cost increases.
