---
title: "PC shipments plunge 20.1 per cent in Q3 2026 as Apple gains market share"
description: "IDC data shows Apple outperformed a shrinking market, picking up share as Lenovo, HP and Dell lost ground."
url: https://mactoreality.com/pc-shipments-plunge-20-1-per-cent-in-q3-2026-as-apple-gains-market-share
published: 2026-10-09T07:14:04Z
updated: 2026-10-09T07:14:04Z
author: "Mac to Reality Newsdesk"
category: Supply chain
tags: ["Business & leadership","Mac"]
publisher: Mac to Reality
ai_assisted: true
apple_heat_impact: 2
---

# PC shipments plunge 20.1 per cent in Q3 2026 as Apple gains market share

*IDC data shows Apple outperformed a shrinking market, picking up share as Lenovo, HP and Dell lost ground.*

**Key points**

- Worldwide PC shipments fell 20.1 per cent year on year in Q3 2026, the second consecutive quarterly decline.
- Apple gained market share while Lenovo, HP and Dell lost a combined 4.2 percentage points.
- IDC cited supply constraints, higher prices and inventory pull-in from earlier in the year as causes.

Worldwide PC shipments totalled 62.7 million units in the third quarter of 2026, a 20.1 per cent decline from the same period a year earlier, [IDC reported](https://www.idc.com/resource-center/press-releases/idc-pc-tracker-3q26/) on 8 October. The drop is the second consecutive quarterly decline and broke the typical seasonal pattern, with shipments falling 9.1 per cent sequentially from the second quarter.

The decline was driven by supply constraints, higher prices, logistical disruption, and a pull-in of demand from earlier in 2026, when vendors and channels stocked up ahead of memory-driven price hikes, IDC said. “What we’re seeing is the result of the strong first half pull-in,” said Jitesh Ubrani, research director for consumer devices at IDC. “Channels are now worried about carrying too much inventory into a market where high prices are suppressing demand.”

Lenovo, HP Inc and Dell Technologies all saw larger-than-market declines and lost a combined 4.2 percentage points of market share. Apple, in fourth place, shipped 5.9 million Macs, down 11.3 per cent year on year – a far smaller fall than the market – which lifted its share from 8.5 per cent to 9.5 per cent, according to IDC’s preliminary figures. [AppleInsider](https://appleinsider.com/articles/26/10/08/theres-a-hidden-upside-to-the-rampocalypse-for-apple?utm_source=rss) was first to highlight the one-point gain. IDC’s figures cover traditional PCs – desktops, notebooks and workstations – excluding tablets and x86 servers.

IDC warned that the channel faces high inventory and weak demand at higher prices, and that worsening macroeconomic conditions could further dampen the outlook for the remainder of 2026 and into the next year.

## Sources

- [IDC: IDC personal computing device tracker](https://www.idc.com/resource-center/press-releases/idc-pc-tracker-3q26/)
- [AppleInsider: There's a hidden upside to the rampocalypse for Apple](https://appleinsider.com/articles/26/10/08/theres-a-hidden-upside-to-the-rampocalypse-for-apple?utm_source=rss)

*This report was written by the Mac to Reality newsdesk with AI assistance from the sources listed above, under the editorial policy at https://mactoreality.com/editorial-policy.*