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Global PC shipments fell by 20.1% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2026, representing a drop of 15.8 million units. According to IDC Global, this decline is steeper than the 3.8% decrease seen last quarter and down 9.1% from the second quarter of this year. Many research firms had warned about this trend since late last year, with IDC predicting the market could shrink up to 9%, particularly in the budget sector. Some experts estimate the situation will not improve until 2029, while Tom’s Hardware readers stated they do not plan to upgrade their systems in the next two years.

These price increases are directly caused by the boom in AI data centers, where hyperscalers are investing heavily in HBM (high-bandwidth memory) to support AI GPUs. This demand has led memory manufacturers to pivot toward data center technology, reducing production capacity for consumer memory. For example, Micron discontinued its Crucial RAM and SSD brand in late 2025 to focus on data center production. As PC makers struggle for a shrinking supply of memory chips, prices climbed by as much as 500%, with 128GB of DDR5 now costing up to $3,399.

Manufacturers stocked up on inventory in the second quarter of 2026 to prepare for higher prices, which contributed to the reduced shipments reported this quarter. Jitesh Ubrani, IDC consumer devices research director, explained that vendors loaded up early to get ahead of price hikes, disrupting usual seasonality where Q3 is typically larger than Q2. He noted that while channels are worried about carrying too much inventory into a market with suppressed demand, they do not expect pricing to return to levels seen a year ago. Prices will remain elevated, and the outlook for the next few quarters may get worse before it gets better due to worsening macro conditions.

The top three PC vendors suffered the most, with Lenovo shipments down 22.6%, HP down 30.9%, and Dell down 25%. In contrast, Apple’s shipments shrank by 11.3% and Asus fell by 8.6%, while the rest of the market shipped 14% less year-over-year. Despite these drops, Lenovo, HP, and Dell maintained their lead with 23.8%, 16.5%, and 12.1% market share, respectively. Acer CEO Jason Chen went against industry fears, stating that concerns are being hyped to protect memory chip makers’ margins. He estimated PC prices will decline in the latter half of 2027 as Chinese memory capacity comes online, though high-end parts like LPDDR5X-9600 and niche CPUs such as the Nvidia N1 and N1X will remain in short supply.