Gartner Says Worldwide PC Shipments Increased 4% in First Quarter of 2026

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 62.8 million units in the first quarter of 2026, a 4% increase from the first quarter of 2025, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc.

“The 4% year-over-year PC shipment growth in the first quarter of 2026 was artificially inflated,” said Rishi Padhi, Research Principal at Gartner. “It was not due to genuine demand, but instead because of vendors’ and channel distributors’ increase of inventory levels ahead of expected price hikes in the second quarter of 2026 driven by rapidly rising memory price inflation (memflation), as well as DRAM and NAND flash component costs. This is especially true for lower-margin products.”

The growth exhibited in the first quarter of 2026 is also relative to a high first quarter in 2025, which was already inflated due to front-loading ahead of U.S. tariffs, according to Gartner.

There were no major changes for the top four PC vendors in worldwide PC shipments, while ASUS overtook Acer to be number five in vendor rankings during the first quarter of 2026. Among the top three, Lenovo and Dell both increased their market share, while HP Inc. lost market share.

“Apple grew 12.7% year-over-year, which was the largest jump among the major vendors and resulted in a 0.8% increase in market share,” said Padhi. “This performance was primarily driven by robust demand for the MacBook Neo, particularly among new Mac users and buyers in the education sector. This strategic positioning enabled Apple to attract cost-conscious consumers seeking high-performance devices, further solidifying its competitive advantage in the segment.”

Gartner clients can read more in “Market Share Alert: Preliminary, PCs, Worldwide, 1Q26.”

Channel Impact^®
While the same guidance prevails, Gartner is slightly more bullish on this market segment.