PC shipments dropped over 20 percent in Q3 due to RAM price hikes

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Stevie Bonifield is a news writer covering all things consumer tech. Stevie started out at Laptop Mag writing news and reviews on hardware, gaming, and AI.

Demand for new PCs took a hit after months of price hikes, with Counterpoint Research reporting global PC shipments fell 21 percent year-over-year in Q3 2026. That’s in line with earlier reports from IDC and Omdia. It’s not just PCs, either — that same quarter, smartphone shipments also hit a 14-year low.

Counterpoint linked the decline in PC shipments to higher component prices. Up until Q2 2026, PC shipments had been growing for over two years straight. But over the last several months, RAM, SSDs, and chips from Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm have all gotten more expensive, leading to price hikes on everything from MacBooks to Raspberry Pis. Counterpoint senior analyst Minsoo Kang noted that some companies are...

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