PC shipments just had their worst third quarter in the industry's history.
IDC says global PC shipments fell 20% year-over-year in Q3, the steepest third-quarter drop the firm has tracked. That's a bigger deal than the headline number suggests: Q3 is typically a seasonal high point, with volumes usually climbing above Q2 as vendors stock up for back-to-school and year-end buying. This year, shipments fell instead of rising, against both the usual seasonal pattern and last year's totals.
The industry has spent the past couple of years pitching AI PCs as the thing that would finally end the slump that followed the pandemic-era buying boom. A record-bad Q3 suggests that pitch has not translated into actual demand, at least not yet, and not at the scale vendors need to offset a cycle where most people's laptops are still working fine.
If the AI PC refresh keeps getting pushed to "next quarter," at some point that stops sounding like patience and starts sounding like doubt.