Global PC shipments fell 20.1% year-on-year in Q3 2026 — to 62.7 million units, down from 78.5 million in Q3 2025, according to IDC’s preliminary tracker data released Wednesday. That’s the steepest quarterly drop in years, and it hits right when back-to-school and pre-festive demand should be peaking. Instead, India and the US alike are seeing laptops for sale at steep temporary discounts. Not because prices are falling, but because retailers are stuck with bloated, expensive inventory they need to move before new models arrive and margins shrink further. The slump isn’t driven by weak demand. It’s a textbook ‘pull-in hangover’. In Q1 and Q2, vendors like HP, Dell and Lenovo rushed to stockpile laptops ahead of anticipated AI-driven component price hikes, especially for memory and storage. Now those warehouses are full. And because that early-bought stock carries higher cost-of-goods, channel partners aren’t placing fresh orders. So factory shipments collapsed. Even as consumer interest remains steady. The fallout is uneven. HP’s shipments dropped 30.9%. Dell fell 25%. Lenovo, the market leader, slid 22.6%. Apple and Asus fared better: down just 11.3% and 8.6%, respectively. In India, that imbalance shows up in deals, not base prices. Amazon India, Flipkart and Reliance Digital are running aggressive festive-season promotions on existing models, but no major brand has cut official MRP. You’ll find Rs 10,000–Rs 25,000 off on select HP Pavilion, Dell Inspiron and Lenovo IdeaPad configurations this week. Discounts tied explicitly to clearing legacy stock, per retailer statements cited by India Today Tech. There’s no indication of permanent price reductions. IDC warns the market may worsen before stabilizing, as vendors work through overstock while absorbing sustained input-cost pressure. What changes next? Shipments will rebound, but not until Q4 or early 2027, once current inventory clears and new AI-optimized chipsets (like Intel’s Lunar Lake refresh and AMD’s Strix Point successors) begin volume shipping. Until then, ‘laptops for sale’ means deep, time-bound deals. Not cheaper hardware.