PC manufacturers are feeling the hurt in 2026, with some seeing as much as a thirty percent shipment drop from the previous year while the average decline sits closer to twenty percent. In a shock to no one, neither consumers nor enterprises are lining up in droves to purchase new PCs this year. It’s no secret that the current DDR/NAND shortage has seen some component costs nearly triple since their 2025 prices, leading manufacturers to, of course, raise their MSRP product offerings. Data and analytics firm IDC has reported that the industry is witnessing the expected downturn, citing supply constraints as the major contributing factor, but that a weakening economy could worsen conditions as we go into 2027.
“Worsening macro conditions are the main concern. A weaker economy could soften demand further, and with prices still high and supply constrained, the outlook for the remainder of 2026 and going into 2027 could deteriorate.”
– IDC
Data was gathered from over 90 countries, which showed HP taking the biggest hit, with nearly a 31% drop in shipments or 10.3 million units shipped in 3Q26. Dell wasn’t too far behind, with a decrease of 25% or 7.6 million units shipped, and while Lenovo leads the pack with nearly 15 million units shipped, it too saw a significant drop of 22.6% in 3Q26. Apple has also been impacted, as the report states it had an 11.3% decrease in shipments, with just under 6 million units moved.
While the AI bubble has not burst, there are some signs of strain; its effects on various electronics industries continue to be seen as memory and storage component manufacturers prioritize orders for data centers over consumer products. This, combined with the possibility of a weakening global economy, paints a dim future for PC manufacturers in the coming year. However, there are significant possibilities of sales and discounts as we near the holidays, and some manufacturers have already begun marketing pre-Black Friday campaigns in an effort to entice potential purchases.
Discussion (1 reply)
Join Discussion →Yep... pc sales dip when price to performance becomes too burdensome.
Thankfully we are hitting a wall in price for a lot of electronics where consumers just nope out rather than buy trash gear that won't work for their use case.
If yiu want together into PC gaming today you're going to nope out when you see the prices. And considering how much consoles are youre gonna just pass in general on that stuff.
Want to vitalize the industry. Make a streaming kit that works on an Xbox or PS5, or any of the handheld setups. Make it so people can game and stream and use discord on a portable SOC style device. Make it good enough and around 1 grand USD top price at most. Then folks will start doing it as they see streamers doing it and streaming from it.