HP joins the growing list of PC companies facing a component shortage before the holiday season. As we previously reported, laptops and mobile devices are in high demand as workers and students make the switch to a virtual environment. PC manufacturers are struggling to meet the new demand while microelectronic suppliers are seeing a surge in business , and that's having a ripple effect throughout the industry. That might make it hard to find any of the most in-demand models, like the ones on our list of Best Gaming Laptops , this holiday season.

In the company's recent earnings call, HP CEO Enrique Lores and CFO Steve Fieler spoke about third-quarter metrics and expectations for Q4 of 2020. According to Lores, the biggest delay is due to supply chain issues. More specifically, a CPU and panel shortage.

"We expect industry-wide CPU and panel constraints to negatively impact our ability to meet demand, especially for notebooks, which were constrained top-line growth," said Fieler ( via Seeking Alpha ).

While desktop sales dropped 29% last quarter, laptop and notebook sales accounted for a 7% total boost in quarterly sales. Workstation sales also dropped 30% in the previous quarter.

Fieler attributes the rise in notebook sales to the demand for assets like Chromebooks in educational environments. The work-from-home shift seems to have a direct correlation with the change in sales.

HP's Managed Print department also experienced a change in sales this quarter, with revenue dropping a total of 29% compared to 40% in April 2020.