Global PC Shipments Decline Amid DRAM/NAND Shortage, ASUS Up, Apple Leads

Global PC shipments fell 4% year‑over‑year in Q2 2026, slipping to about 65 million units and ending a growth streak that began in Q1 2025. The decline is attributed to sharply higher DRAM and NAND prices, driven by a surge in AI data‑center construction. Manufacturers largely passed the cost increase to consumers, prompting a sales drop, though the commercial segment stayed resilient thanks to the ongoing migration to Windows 11.

ASUS was the only Windows PC maker to record a shipment increase, up 4% YoY, while Apple’s MacBook deliveries rose 13% on the strength of its budget MacBook Neo. Meanwhile, China’s NAND producer Yangtze Memory (长江存储) captured 13% of the global NAND market in Q1 2026, with revenue jumping 445% year‑over‑year. Major cloud providers Alibaba Cloud and ByteDance secured large NAND supply contracts, shifting sourcing away from overseas makers. Overseas DRAM prices remain about 30% higher and NAND about 25% higher than domestic Chinese offerings. Analysts expect component prices to stay elevated throughout the second half of 2026, with potential PC shipment falls of up to 20% projected for Q4 2026.