Fifty-seven million PCs were shipped around the world in the September quarter of 2026, 21% fewer than in the same quarter a year earlier, Engadget reported.
Shipments were also down 13.8% on the previous quarter, according to Engadget.
That means the market shrank on both measures. The year-on-year figure sets the quarter against July to September 2025, while the quarter-on-quarter figure sets it against the three months immediately before.
The current quarter is expected to be worse. Engadget reported a forecast of a 27% year-on-year drop in the fourth quarter of 2026. If that forecast holds, the fall would be steeper than the September quarter’s 21%.
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Memory Costs and a Tough Comparison
The Verge’s headline on the figures puts the drop down to RAM price hikes, and the cost of memory runs through both reports.
Minsoo Kang, a senior analyst at Counterpoint Research, described the squeeze in comments carried by Engadget.
“The global PC market is facing mounting pressure as rising memory and component costs push system prices higher and force consumers to delay replacement purchases.”
Put simply, dearer parts make for dearer computers, and people who would have replaced an ageing machine are holding on to it for longer. Kang’s point covers both ends of the market: what it costs to build a PC, and whether buyers will pay the higher price.
The comparison with a year earlier also makes the fall look steeper. The third quarter of 2025 was lifted by purchases made ahead of the Windows 10 support deadline and by tariff-related inventory moves, The Verge reported.
This year’s September quarter is being measured against one with extra demand built into it.
Not Only PCs
The 21% figure is in line with earlier reports from IDC and Omdia, according to The Verge. So the result does not rest on a single count of the market.
Phones had a weak quarter too. Smartphone shipments hit a 14-year low in the same quarter, The Verge reported.
Some companies are looking backwards to soften the blow. According to The Verge, they are reviving older technology, such as DDR4 RAM, to limit the price rises.
More hardware and software news is in our Technology archive.
Flat Is Not a Recovery
The outlook offers little relief. David Naranjo, an associate director at Counterpoint, expects shipments to stay broadly flat in 2027 after the forecast 27% fall in the fourth quarter, and he warned against reading a flat year as good news, The Verge reported.
“With global shipments expected to plunge 27% in Q4 2026 and remain broadly flat in 2027, stabilization should not be mistaken for recovery.”
The 27% in his quote is the same fourth-quarter forecast reported by Engadget.
A market that stops shrinking has not won back what it lost. After a 21% fall in the September quarter and a forecast 27% fall in the December quarter, a flat 2027 would hold shipments at the lower level rather than lift them.
For anyone weighing up a new computer, Kang’s comments point to higher prices for now, with memory costs doing much of the pushing.
Both of the forward numbers are forecasts, not results. The fourth-quarter figure will not be known until that quarter is over and the data is in. For now, the latest measured result is the September quarter: 57 million units, down 21%.
Sources: The Verge, “PC shipments dropped over 20 percent in Q3 due to RAM price hikes”, 22 October 2026 (https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/1017144/global-pc-shipments-dropped-q3-2026-ram); Engadget, “PC shipments are in the toilet, plunging over 20 percent from last year”, 22 October 2026 (https://www.engadget.com/2294257/pc-shipments-are-in-the-toilet-plunging-over-20-percent-from-last-year/)
Illustration: stacked shipping cartons in a half-empty warehouse. This image was generated by AI.
Illustration: AI-generated for WRP.
