Global PC sales dropped 22.4% in the third quarter of 2026, driven primarily by rising memory and storage component costs that manufacturers passed directly to consumers. As prices climbed, companies shifted their focus to higher-margin configurations, squeezing out affordable models that typically drive volume.
The impact hit different vendors unequally. HP suffered the steepest decline at 30.9%, followed by Dell at 25.4% and Lenovo at 22.4%. Apple weathered the downturn better than competitors, reporting only a 7.1% drop—a pattern consistent with its premium positioning and customer base less sensitive to price shifts.