Worldwide PC shipments fell 22.4% in the third quarter of 2026, to about 55.4 million, according to a preliminary count by Gartner, as higher memory costs pushed PC prices up. That makes two trackers putting the drop past 20%: IDC had it at 20.1% on October 8th.
Gartner lays it squarely on memory. “The impact of higher memory and storage costs is now fully reflected in PC pricing,” says Namrata Banerjee, a research principal at Gartner. DRAM memory cost five times more in the second quarter than a year earlier, she says, and PC makers passed that on to buyers. Shipments are back to levels last seen in early 2023, but Banerjee says the cause is different this time. “Rather than excess inventory,” she says, the drop came from higher prices, PC makers reprioritizing scarce parts and a shift toward pricier configurations. That left fewer low-cost machines on sale. Businesses spent on targeted buys like workstations and AI PCs instead of rolling out new PCs across the board.
All six of the biggest PC makers shipped fewer machines. Lenovo led the pack with 14.99 million, down 22.4%, right in line with the market. HP fell hardest, down 30.9% to 10.37 million, which Gartner ties to its relatively high exposure to price-sensitive consumer and mainstream business buyers. Dell dropped 25.4% to 7.58 million. Asus (down 13%) and Acer (down 11.2%) held up better. The table below has Gartner’s full count.
| Vendor | Q3 2026 shipments | Q3 2026 share | Q3 2025 shipments | Q3 2025 share | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lenovo | 14,993 | 27.1% | 19,330 | 27.1% | −22.4% |
| HP | 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% |
Then there’s Apple. It shipped 5.84 million Macs, down just 7.1%, the smallest drop of the top six, and its market share rose 1.7 points to 10.5%. Gartner credits Apple’s “portfolio of mainstream MacBooks.” IDC agrees on the direction, if not the size: it has Macs down 11.3% against a 20.1% market drop, though in IDC’s count Asus (down 8.6%) did a little better than Apple.
The totals don’t match (IDC has 62.7 million PCs, Gartner about 55.4 million), but both point the same way. Gartner calls its numbers preliminary and subject to change.
The take
This pattern makes a lot of sense. Gartner’s own explanation is that cheap PCs got scarce, and HP, which Gartner says has relatively high exposure to price-sensitive buyers, is bleeding the most. Apple isn’t immune; 7.1% fewer Macs is still a drop. The bottom line: when the budget end thins out, a MacBook stops looking like the expensive option by comparison. So if you’re holding out for a cheap Windows laptop, you might end up waiting for quite a while.
