If you have been putting off that laptop upgrade because the price tag looked a little too heavy, you are far from alone. Millions of people around the world made the same call this summer, and the numbers are now in.
Global PC shipments fell 21% year-on-year to about 57 million units in the July–September quarter of 2026, according to preliminary data from Counterpoint Research released this week. The research firm blames rising memory and component costs, which pushed up PC prices and made buyers hold on to their old machines. Worse, Counterpoint expects the slide to deepen to 27% in the October–December quarter.
Quick Facts
- Who: Counterpoint Research (preliminary data); every major PC brand affected
- What: Global PC shipments fell 21% year-on-year and 13.8% from the previous quarter
- When: Q3 2026 (July–September); report published around October 23, 2026
- Where: Worldwide
- Key number: About 57 million PCs shipped; a 27% year-on-year drop is forecast for Q4 2026
PC Shipments Drop 21%: What Counterpoint Found
The headline figure is blunt. Roughly 57 million desktops and laptops left factories and warehouses in the third quarter, a fifth fewer than a year earlier.
Counterpoint says the main culprit is memory. DRAM and NAND flash chips, the parts that make up your laptop’s RAM and storage, have become much more expensive. When those parts cost more, the finished laptop costs more, and shoppers simply wait.
Consumer demand took the biggest hit, according to the report. Business buying held up better, helped by companies replacing ageing fleets and moving to newer versions of Windows. But that was not enough to plug the gap. Senior Analyst Minsoo Kang said commercial support is “no longer enough to offset weakening demand.”
There is also a tough comparison at play. The same quarter last year was boosted by people buying ahead of the Windows 10 end-of-support deadline and by tariff-related stocking, so the 2025 numbers were unusually strong to begin with.
Lenovo, HP, Dell, Apple, ASUS: How Each Brand Fared
Nobody in the top five grew year-on-year. But some fell much harder than others. Here is how Counterpoint’s preliminary numbers stack up, as reported by FoneArena and GSMArena:
- Lenovo: 15 million units, 26.3% share, down 23%. Still the clear number one.
- HP: 10.3 million units, 18.1% share, down 31%. The steepest fall among the big names.
- Dell: 7.6 million units, 13.3% share, down 25%.
- Apple: 5.6 million units, 9.8% share, down 11%. Its share actually rose, helped by steady demand for the MacBook Neo.
- ASUS: 5.2 million units, down 7% year-on-year but up 19.4% from the previous quarter. The smallest annual decline in the top five.
Kang said Apple and ASUS showed more resilience thanks to differentiated products and sharper positioning, and that affordability is becoming a bigger deciding factor for buyers. In plain terms: brands with a clear reason to buy, or a sharper price, lost less ground.
Why Memory Chips Are Making Laptops Expensive
Several outlets covering the slump link the memory squeeze to the huge build-out of AI data centres, which soak up enormous amounts of high-end memory.
The knock-on effect is easy to picture. Say a brand used to sell a budget laptop with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD at a sharp price. When those two parts suddenly cost a lot more, the brand can either raise the price, cut the specs, or quietly stop selling that model. Counterpoint says vendors are prioritising configurations that can absorb the cost increase, which leaves price-sensitive buyers with fewer affordable options.
Associate Director David Naranjo described the industry as entering a period of “structural adjustment,” where PC makers must balance protecting their margins against keeping prices within reach.
Other Trackers Agree: IDC, Gartner and Omdia
Counterpoint is not the only firm seeing red. Earlier this month, the other big market trackers published their own preliminary Q3 numbers, and they all point the same way, even if the exact figures differ because each firm counts slightly differently:
- IDC: 62.7 million units, down 20.1%
- Omdia: 58.1 million units, down 21.2%
- Gartner: 55.4 million units, down 22.4%
Four separate firms landing on a drop of roughly a fifth suggests this is a real industry-wide slowdown, not a blip in one company’s model.
Q4 2026 Forecast: A 27% Fall Before Things Level Off
Counterpoint expects shipments in the final quarter of 2026 to fall 27% year-on-year, deeper than the third quarter. For 2027, it expects full-year shipments to be broadly flat compared with 2026.
That “flat” outlook is not a comeback story. It means the market settles at a lower level rather than bouncing back. Naranjo put it neatly, warning that “stabilization should not be mistaken for recovery.” The firm sees some hope in AI PCs, premium displays and products that stand out, but says brands will need sharp pricing and tight supply chains to win buyers back.
What We Don’t Know Yet
- These are preliminary figures, and final numbers can shift slightly.
- Counterpoint’s global report does not break out India, so it is unclear how closely Indian shipments track the worldwide fall.
- How long memory prices stay high is uncertain, and that will decide when budget laptops become affordable again.
What This Means for You
If you are shopping for a laptop or desktop this festive season or for the new college term, a few practical points:
- Check the RAM and storage, not just the price. Brands under cost pressure may trim memory or SSD size to keep a price point. Compare specs carefully across models.
- Look at last year’s models. Older stock bought before the cost spike can sometimes be better value.
- Consider an upgrade instead of a replacement. If your current machine takes extra RAM or a bigger SSD, a part swap may stretch its life, though memory parts are pricier too.
- Don’t panic-buy. Analysts expect the market to stabilise in 2027, not keep falling forever.
Our Take
The AI boom is usually sold as something that makes our gadgets smarter. This quarter shows the other side of that coin: the same race for AI chips is making ordinary laptops more expensive and pushing budget buyers to the back of the queue. Brands that keep a genuinely affordable, well-specced option on the shelf could win a lot of goodwill over the next year.
FAQs
How much did global PC shipments fall in Q3 2026?
Counterpoint Research says shipments fell 21% year-on-year to about 57 million units. IDC, Omdia and Gartner reported similar declines of 20–22%.
Why are PC shipments falling?
Rising prices of memory and storage chips have pushed up PC prices, and many buyers have delayed upgrades as a result.
Which PC brand is number one?
Lenovo remained the market leader with about 15 million units and a 26.3% share, followed by HP, Dell, Apple and ASUS.
Will laptop prices come down soon?
Nobody has given a firm timeline. Counterpoint expects shipments to fall 27% in Q4 2026 and stay broadly flat in 2027, which suggests cost pressure may linger for a while.
Read the full breakdown on FoneArena or visit Counterpoint Research for the firm’s latest market data.
Based on reporting by Counterpoint Research, FoneArena and GSMArena, with IDC, Gartner and Omdia figures for comparison.
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