Global PC Shipments Fell 22.4% in the Third Quarter on Surging Component Prices and a Shift to Higher-End Models
IT DAILY ·
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According to Gartner, global PC shipments in the third quarter of 2026 totaled 55.4 million units, down 22.4% from a year earlier.
The decline was attributed to surging prices for key components such as memory, higher PC prices driven by rising component costs, and changes in manufacturers' component allocation strategies.
All of the top 6 vendors saw shipments fall, with Lenovo in first place and HP posting the biggest drop at 30.9%.
According to a survey released by Gartner on the 13th, global PC shipments in the third quarter of 2026 totaled 55.4 million units. That was down 22.4% from a year earlier, a decline of more than 20%. Shipments fell to their lowest level since early 2023.
The sharp drop in global PC shipments in the third quarter was attributed to surging prices for key components, including memory. DRAM prices in the previous second quarter jumped fivefold from a year earlier, adding to the burden of memory and storage costs.
Rising component costs led to higher PC prices. Major finished-device makers passed much of the increased cost on to third-quarter selling prices, and demand weakened as a result of the price hikes.
Manufacturers also concentrated limited components on high-margin, higher-spec product lines. As a result, supply of low-cost PCs shrank, which in turn led to a decline in shipments, according to Gartner's survey.
Gartner said the shipment plunge was not due to an inventory problem, but rather the combined effect of steep price increases, changes in manufacturers' component allocation strategies, and a shift toward higher-spec products. Namrata Banerjee, Gartner's research lead, said these changes led to a reduction in supply of lower-end models.
Namrata Banerjee said the reduced supply of lower-end models raised the barrier for consumers to replace their devices. She also said that in the enterprise market, replacement of standard business PCs was delayed, while corporate investment focused on specific high-performance categories such as AI PC and workstations.
Against this backdrop, all of the top 6 vendors posted shipment declines. Lenovo remained No. 1 in the market.
Lenovo's shipments fell 22.4% from a year earlier, matching the market average decline. Gartner attributed Lenovo's continued lead to its global supply chain, enterprise AI, and infrastructure-linked portfolio. HP ranked second, and its shipments fell 30.9% from a year earlier, the largest decline among the top 6. The hit was attributed in part to HP's relatively high exposure to general consumer and small-business PC lines, which are more price-sensitive.
Apple recorded the smallest shipment decline among the top 6 major vendors compared with the others. Strong demand for Apple's flagship MacBook lineup helped lift its global market share by 1.7 percentage points from a year earlier.
Source: IT DAILY · Kwon Young-seok
Original: https://www.itdaily.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=242137
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Source: IT DAILY
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