Worldwide PC market update Q2 2026: Omdia: overall decline 4%, Apple up 16%. IDC: overall decline of 4.9%, Apple up 10%

Can Apple overtake Dell?

Omdia

Global shipments of desktops, notebooks, and workstations in 2Q26 declined 3.6% year-over-year to 65.7 million units according to the latest research from Omdia. Shipments of desktops (including desktop workstations) hit 13.9 million, falling 1.3% annually, while notebook (including mobile workstations) shipments landed at 51.7 million units, representing a 4.2% decline.

"The sharp increase in memory and storage prices during the first quarter of the year had a significant impact on product pricing in the second quarter," said Ben Yeh, Principal Analyst at Omdia. "It also prompted consumers and IT decision makers to bring forward their PC purchases to mitigate the risk of further price increases. Although sales volumes were maintained at a stable level, the risk of a subsequent downturn remains."

Apple's recent decision to raise prices across MacBooks has become one of the key focal points in the market. However, other PC vendors began increasing prices as early as the end of 4Q25 and have continued to adjust them quarter over quarter. Across comparable product lines, prices have risen by about 20% to 40% compared with the same period last year.

Lenovo retained the top position, shipping 16.6 million units and maintaining a 25% market share despite a modest 2% decline in shipments. HP ranked second with 13.0 million units shipped, as volumes declined 9% year over year. Dell held third place, demonstrating resilience in a supply-constrained environment by shipping 9.3 million units and capturing a 14% market share. Apple recorded the strongest growth among the top vendors, shipping 7.3 million units, driven by the launch of the MacBook Neo and healthy underlying demand. The company gained 2 percentage points of market share compared with 2Q25. Asus rounded out the top five with 5.0 million units shipped, delivering a broadly flat performance year over year.

IDC

New data from IDC shows that Apple was the only major PC vendor to post significant shipment growth in Q2 2026, with the broader market declining for the first time in more than two years.

Mac shipments rise as PC demand cools
In a report published today, IDC says global PC shipments fell 4.9% year over year in Q2 2026, dropping to 68.2 million units from 71.7 million units in Q2 2025. The data showed that the top-five vendor ranking was unchanged from Q2 2025, even as most major PC makers posted year-over-year declines.

In practice, Lenovo held on to the top spot with 24.4% market share, despite a 2.1% year-over-year decline in shipments. HP followed with a 19.1% share and a 9% drop, while Dell remained in third place with a 13.6% share and a 5% decline.
Apple, meanwhile, saw Mac shipments jump 10.1% year over year, giving the company 9.9% share, and ASUS rounded out the top five with 7.4% share and a slight 0.2% increase.
From the report:

“Apple’s share gain coincided with its latest product launch, the MacBook Neo, and while the company did raise prices in line with the broader market, it still remains well positioned against rivals facing the same cost pressures.”

Here’s Jitesh Ubrani, research director for consumer devices at IDC:
“The real story here is the disconnect between units and dollars: shipments are falling, but revenue is climbing because vendors are pushing through price increases faster than demand is dropping. […] Given worsening macro conditions and a memory shortage that isn’t expected to ease until early 2028, we don’t expect another round of inventory pull-forward, which points to a sharp slowdown in growth rates in the second half of 2026. Vendors are bracing for further price hikes into 2027, and channels are already flagging concern about elevated inventory at these higher price points.”

IDC also warned that sustained price pressure could start weighing on PC upgrade cycles, “even as interest in on-device AI processing continues to grow.” The firm also pointed to another risk: the biggest PC makers gaining even more share as smaller rivals struggle with the memory crunch.

Source: Yahoo Finance

NB: The two estimates are almost exactly the same for the top vendors, differing only on Apple's shipment and "Others". Overall…

…Apple is growing the Mac line between 10% and 15% in units. My own estimate is of a 15% increase in revenues (to $9.25 billion) with a volume increase of 20% due to the MacBook Neo. The Neo launch was extremely successful and it hit the market at the launch price of $599, holding the level through the end of the June quarter.

As a result, Apple's growth is very much an outlier.

According to the Omdia data, Apple is still a few percentage points (2 million units) below Dell and a third place in the volume ranking. Overtaking Dell in units would be quite an achievement given the admonishment Michael Dell had when asked what he would do if he were CEO of Apple. “What would I do? I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.”