Between July and September 2026, PC makers shipped 57 million computers around the world. New data from Counterpoint Research puts that 21% below the same quarter a year earlier.
None of the major brands escaped. Asus, Dell, HP and Lenovo each moved fewer machines than they did a year ago, which means the drop can’t be pinned on one company’s products. The whole market is shrinking.
Rising memory costs are behind the drop
According to Counterpoint, the trigger is higher component costs, in particular DRAM and NAND memory. Manufacturers handed those increases on to buyers, PCs got more expensive and demand fell off.
A lot of people seem to be delaying a new computer purchase or keeping an aging laptop going for longer than they intended. If you looked at an upgrade recently and walked away because of the price, you were far from alone.
Lenovo holds the top spot in a smaller market
Lenovo stayed number one globally, shipping 15 million units for a 26.3% share of the market. HP followed in second place with 18.1%.
Those leads sit on a much smaller base. Staying in front during a quarter when shipments dropped 21% reflects how the rest of the field did more than any strong showing by the leaders.
Apple bucked the trend
Apple was among the few companies that grew its share, reaching 9.8%. Counterpoint attributes this to consistent demand for the MacBook Neo, the company’s lower-cost laptop.
By Counterpoint’s estimate, Apple shipped 5.6 million laptops during the quarter, a 19.4% increase over the second quarter of the year. Note that this is a quarter-over-quarter figure, not a year-over-year one. It still stands out as growth at a time when the rest of the industry contracted. With memory costs lifting prices across the board, a cheaper MacBook is finding buyers.