Neil Hughes
The latest quarterly PC market tracking data from both Gartner and IDC shows that Apple's U.S. Mac shipments shrunk in the third quarter of calendar 2013, as the overall PC market outpaced Mac hardware.
The estimates released Wednesday by IDC and Gartner show very different pictures. In IDC's research, domestic Mac sales were off 11.2 percent year over year in the third quarter, while the overall U.S. PC market slid 0.2 percent.
Gartner, meanwhile, found that Apple's shipments slid just 2.3 percent, while the U.S. PC market was actually up 3.5 percent year over year in their models.
Regardless, estimates from both Gartner and IDC suggest that Mac sales are no longer outpacing the PC market at large, at least in America. But the numbers don't include Apple's growing international share, nor does either firm track tablet shipments, such as Apple's market-leading iPad.
Gartner's third-quarter data pegged HP as the top U.S. PC maker, with year over year growth of 4.5 percent propelling it to a 26.9 percent share. In second was Dell, up 3.3 percent and holding 21 percent of the market, while Apple's estimated 2.1 million shipped units were good for third place, with a 13.4 percent market share. That share is down from 2012, when Apple held 14.2 percent of the U.S. market.
Following Apple was Lenovo with a big 24.6 percent year over year gain and a 10.5 percent share, according to Gartner. Toshiba took fifth with a 7 percent share and a 13.5 percent gain from 2012.
IDC, meanwhile, also found the companies in the same order. But their estimates give Apple a slightly smaller 11.6 percent share of U.S. shipments. IDC estimates that Apple shipped 1.9 million Macs in the U.S. in the third quarter.
As usual, Apple did not crack the top five PC vendors worldwide in either IDC's or Gartner's data. IDC and Gartner both had the top five, in order, as Lenovo, HP, Dell, Acer, and Asus.
Worldwide, IDC estimates that PC shipments 7.6 percent to 81.6 million. Gartner's global numbers estimate an 8.7 percent dip to 80.2 million total units.
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281 Comments
Mac shipments in the UK certainly aren't helped by Apple continuously jumping up their prices here whilst keeping them stable in the US. The exchange rate is essentially the same now as when the iMacs were released last year yet we are charged another £100 ($160).
This needs to show a relation to tablet sales. Many are replacing PC's with iPads. How does this all shape up with iPads factored in...I would be curious.
If you aren't tracking tablets, then you shouldn't track the home PC market at all, IMHO. Many households used to use a PC for web, email, facebook, twitter, games, and photos. These can all be done on a tablet or smartphone now. I wouldn't be surprised to see many young adults forgo a PC altogether now, if not replacing one far less often than they used to.
I love my iPad mini, and my iPhone 5S is a workhorse. But I love my 11" MBA, too, and I worry the day could come when Apple decides to drop its laptop lines. A shopper in an Apple store or shopping online sees the attractive phone and tablet alternatives, and of course that takes some sales from PCs. I hope Apple is willing to support a contracting laptop market for a long time.
If the iMac refresh was worth a damn- I would have upgraded my 2010. Easily the most underwhelming iMac update I've seen. 2014 should be the year of the Retina iMac and Fusion drive being standard. That would actually be an impressive update.
The future of computing/consuming is Tablets 1st, and Desktops 2nd. Laptops will be a thing of the past before the traditional desktop. Of course, tablet (or even phone) docking will likely replace the desktop eventually. Unfortunately, the next several generations of Intel chips are all portability/power consumption focused... they're a giant, sinking ship.