Overview
- IDC and Omdia reported on Friday that Q3 2026 shipments dropped sharply, with IDC at 62.7 million units and Omdia at 58.1 million units, both showing about a 20% year‑over‑year decline.
- Researchers say the hit came after vendors and channels front‑loaded purchases earlier in 2026 to avoid expected memory price rises, which left channels digesting stock instead of selling into the usual back‑to‑school demand.
- Omdia found DRAM and NAND costs rose from roughly 15% to nearly 40% of a PC’s bill of materials, which pushed up prices, squeezed vendor margins, and reduced retailers’ ability to discount.
- Major OEMs all saw falls but to different degrees: Lenovo, HP and Dell fell sharply while Apple and ASUS recorded smaller declines and gained share versus peers.
- Analysts and firms expect weakness to continue as manufacturers trim production and channels destock, with forecasts showing a steeper Q4 2026 decline and further contraction in 2027.