Global PC shipments crater 20% as rising prices hammer demand

The global PC market has taken a beating, with shipments plunging more than 20 percent in the third quarter as the AI-driven memory shortage pushes up prices and buyers decide their existing machines will do just fine. New figures from Omdia show worldwide shipments of desktops, notebooks, and workstations fell 21.2 percent year-on-year to 58.1 million units in Q3 2026. IDC tells a similar story, estimating a 20.1 percent decline to 62.7 million units. The research firms differ on shipment total