Apple's Mac shipments dropped 11.3% year over year in Q3 2026, yet the company still gained market share, according to a new report from IDC. The firm shipped 5.9 million Macs in the quarter, down from 6.7 million a year earlier. Meanwhile, the overall PC market fell far more sharply, with worldwide shipments declining 20.1% to 62.7 million units. As a result, Apple's share of worldwide PC shipments rose from 8.5% to 9.5%.
Apple remained in fourth place behind Lenovo, which led the ranking with 14.9 million shipments and a 23.8% share. HP followed with 10.3 million shipments and a 16.5% share, and Dell with 7.6 million shipments and a 12.1% share. HP recorded the steepest year-over-year decline among the top five vendors, with shipments falling 30.9%. ASUS saw the smallest drop, down 8.6% to 5.5 million shipments and an 8.7% share.
IDC attributed the weak quarter to vendors and channels buying inventory earlier in the year ahead of price hikes, which pulled demand out of Q3. Continued supply constraints left the quarter without its usual seasonal lift, pushing shipments below both Q2 and last year.
Looking ahead, IDC said channel concern over high inventory and soft demand at elevated prices could bring promotions in the near term, and that pricing will stay well above year-ago levels. The firm also noted that the economy has weakened since the previous quarter, which could further reduce demand and darken the outlook for the remainder of 2026 and into 2027.
Source: 9to5Mac · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing