IDC estimated 62.7 million worldwide PC shipments in Q3 2026, down 20.1% year over year; Omdia estimated 58.1 million, down 21.2%. These are separate preliminary tracker estimates, and both count shipments—not a direct tally of consumer purchases. (IDC; Omdia)
The gap between the estimates is a reminder to keep each tracker’s figure attached to its source, rather than blending them into one market total. IDC also reported a 9.1% sequential decline and said Q3 marked a second consecutive quarter of year-over-year contraction; shipments had fallen 3.8% year over year in Q2.
What PC shipments count
IDC’s traditional PC category covers desktops, notebooks and workstations, while excluding tablets and x86 servers. Its shipment measure includes units sent to distribution channels or directly to end users. That makes it different from retail sell-through: a PC shipped to a channel has not necessarily been bought by a consumer.
Omdia’s worldwide figures cover desktops, notebooks and workstations. Its desktop total includes desktop workstations, while its notebook total includes mobile workstations. In Q3, Omdia estimated 11.7 million desktop shipments, down 23.5% year over year, and 46.4 million notebook shipments, down 20.6%.
IDC’s Q3 shipment ranking put Lenovo first, followed by HP Inc., Dell Technologies, Apple and ASUS. That is a quarterly ranking by shipments, not a measure of consumer preference or a permanent brand league table.
Inventory and component costs weighed on shipments
IDC attributed the weak quarter partly to vendors and distributors bringing inventory forward earlier in the year ahead of expected price increases. That pull-in disrupted the usual seasonal pattern, while supply constraints and high prices added pressure. Omdia also said vendors and manufacturing partners reduced production in Q3 as sales channels worked through inventory.
Memory and storage costs added another squeeze. Omdia said DRAM and SSDs had risen from a typical share of about 15% of PC costs to nearly 40%, while prices for those components had increased more than fourfold. That cost pressure helps explain why a supply problem upstream can affect the price of a finished computer. NeoTeo previously covered Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s warning that the memory shortage could worsen in 2027.
The effects land differently for different buyers. On Reddit, u/CompilerBreak said they planned to keep using a seven-year-old GTX 1080 system rather than pay current prices; u/anapoe described buying a new PC after their previous one failed. Those individual experiences show why higher prices can delay an optional upgrade while leaving little room to postpone a replacement when a computer stops working. (Comment on r/windowscentral; comment on r/hardware)
Omdia’s outlook remains a forecast
Omdia forecast that worldwide PC shipments would fall 24% year over year in Q4 2026 and 7% for full-year 2027. Those projections extend the cost and inventory pressures Omdia described, but remain forecasts rather than completed shipment results.
