Q3 2026 Was Historically Bad For PC Shipments (pcmag.com)
- Reference: 0186220492
- News link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/26/10/12/0134221/q3-2026-was-historically-bad-for-pc-shipments
- Source link: https://www.pcmag.com/news/with-20-dip-q3-was-a-historically-bad-quarter-for-pc-shipments
> "If looking at all quarters, then we have seen other quarters in recent years with larger declines, such as 2022Q4, which was -28.2%, and 2023Q1, which was -28.7%. Both were coming off pandemic highs," IDC Director Jitesh Ubrani told PCMag in an email. The numbers aren't a great sign, since third-quarter PC shipments usually outpace those in the second quarter as vendors introduce new products ahead of the holiday shopping season. Instead, PC shipments were at 62.7 million units, down 9.1% from the previous quarter.
>
> [...] Of course, the downturn isn't a surprise. IDC and other research firms have warned that the ongoing AI-driven memory shortage threatens to sap demand for PCs and phones due to soaring memory and storage costs. "What we're seeing is the result of the strong first half pull-in. Vendors and channels loaded up on inventory early in the year to get ahead of [memory-related] price hikes, and that has thrown off the usual seasonality, where Q3 is typically larger than Q2," Ubrani said in [2]a report covering IDC's preliminary estimates for the quarter.
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> In one bright spot, Ubrani said vendors and retailers might cut prices to generate interest and clear out products they have in stock. "Channels are now worried about carrying too much inventory into a market where high prices are suppressing demand. That could translate into promotions and some short-term relief for consumers, but we don't expect pricing anywhere near what it was a year ago. Prices will remain elevated," he added.
[1] https://www.pcmag.com/news/with-20-dip-q3-was-a-historically-bad-quarter-for-pc-shipments
[2] https://www.idc.com/resource-center/press-releases/idc-pc-tracker-3q26/
You're All Wrong (Score:3)
You're all thinking; 'Yea serves them right for price gouging.' But, you'd be wrong.
You see Dell PC sales down 20%. But look at what Dell sees:
Q2 2027 (Reported July 2026)
Record revenue of $47.0 billion, up 58% year over year
Record diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $6.34, up 273% year over year, and record non-GAAP diluted EPS of $7.04, up 203%
Cash flow from operations of $2.2 billion
Full-year FY27 revenue guidance of $192.0 billion, up 69% year over year
Full-year FY27 EPS guidance of $24.37 and non-GAAP EPS guidance of $25.50, up 181% and 148% year over year, respectively
Best fucking quarter EVAR!!!!
Then they raised their forecast and the stock went ballistic.
[1]https://investors.delltechnolo... [delltechnologies.com]
[1] https://investors.delltechnologies.com/financial-information/financial-results
Re: (Score:2)
Dell is making those numbers on the datacenter and enterprise sales side of the house. Those purchasers are going to buy what they need when they need it regardless of the uptick in pricing. The consumer market is a completely different animal. There is a lot more price sensitivity there and people will think long and hard about purchases, especially discretionary ones.
Could Dell subsidize consumer sales with that enterprise windfall? I suppose they could, but I suspect they won't or it will not cover a
Big Shock there! (Score:2)
I'm stunned! I mean, who doesn't want to pay 25% more for their new desktop or laptop than they did around this time last year because of the huge price jumps for memory and storage?
Re: (Score:2)
The AI fanboys still seem to be buying, money is no object.
I did some price checking a couple weeks ago and you can still assemble a non-AI capable AM4 system mini ATX system for about $800. I did not include the video card in that list as I'm not a gamer, AMD's APU integrated graphics are good enough for me. I currently use a 4600G.
Re: (Score:2)
It will be interesting to see what happens when this AI valuation house of cards deflates and blunts the hoovering up of critical supply items for consumer goods. That's likely to leave a lot of middle-men who bought at the peak sitting on significant losses when prices ultimately correct.
Volumes, but what about revenue? (Score:2)
Everyone knows that pretty much by definition volumes are low, that's the whole definition of a shortage.
The vendors may still be happy, perhaps even happier if the sky high prices produce at least as much revenue at high margin.
Does Windows 11 still run on PCs (Score:2)
Owing to the October 2025 Windows 10 phase-out/scare/scolding, I purchased a refurb Dell Micro for cheap that came with Windows 11 Pro. 16 G RAM, 1 T SSD, what was there to not like.
Come March 2026, Windows Update was slowing this machine to a crawl, especially if I booted it every other week because it was my PC separate from work that I paid bills on.
Consulting with Copilot AI (natch, you would think Copilot is savy about Microsoft products), it turns out that my cheap PC has a SATA SSD, not an NVMe
Obligatory Gif (Score:2)
[Will Smith going "Hmm"]