Mac shipments continue to slide in Q4 as PC market grows

Apple's share of the worldwide PC market continued a year-long downward trend amidst a wider industry rebound, as Mac shipments shrank in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to estimates released on Monday by market research firms Gartner and IDC

Apple landed in fourth place on an estimated 5.26 million Macs shipped during the last quarter of 2019 to take 7.5% of the market, down from 5.43 million units in the same period in 2018, Gartner said in its report.

IDC disagreed on exact unit numbers, finding Mac shipments at 4.72 million in quarter four, but also put Apple down 5.3% from 4.98 million year-over-year. The performance was good for a 6.6% marketshare, IDC said.

Both Gartner and IDC found the Mac maker suffered the worst quarterly decline of any top-five vendor, exacerbating a situation that according to Gartner began in the year-ago quarter.

The research firms also disagreed on Acer, with Gartner showing the Taiwanese firm in sixth place, up 3.5% on the year with 3.99 million units shipped and a 5.7% share of the market. IDC, however, estimates Acer was nipping at Apple's heels with 4.37 million units shipped, down 4.2% from 2018. Gartner has Asus in the fifth spot with 4.06 million shipments and a 5.8% share of the market.

IDC's fourth quarter numbers.

Lenovo was the top PC manufacturer on both lists, with the Gartner estimating shipments of 17.5 million units to IDC's 17.83 million. Both research firms have Lenovo at a 24.8% marketshare.

HP and Dell finished in second and third, respectively, with Gartner estimating 16.13 million units shipped for HP, up 5.4% year-over-year. IDC put HP's shipments at 17.17 million units, up 6.9% from the same period last year. Dell shipped 12.11 million computers, up 12.1% year-over-year, according to Gartner, while IDC put the company's shipments up 10.7% at 12.46 million units.

Overall, Gartner found the industry grew 2.3% from the same time last year, a more conservative outlook as compared to IDC's 4.8% growth rate.

59 Comments

quadra 610 6685 comments · 16 Years

About 4 years ago

3.5-5 million units per quarter, as usual.

They won’t sell more than what’s roughly in this range, and they never really have, at least as long as I’ve had an account on AI.

I don’t see the issue.

The market may be expanding, but in which areas? Premium devices? Budget notebooks? Apple usually rules the top of the market pyramid: unit sales are fewer but profit is plentiful. And does Apple not still command the lion’s share of profit in this area? They usually do.

magman1979 1301 comments · 11 Years

About 4 years ago

Oh look, more negative news from the smut rags Gartner and IDC, known for totally fabricating numbers out of their asses...

Pardon me while I proceed with ignoring this crap.

wood1208 2930 comments · 10 Years

About 4 years ago

Many people love Macbook laptops but often the price becomes decision factor,deal breaker. Typical PC Windows laptops range from $250 to $2000 so it plays within the people's budget.

I am sure Apple can capture more market share if chooses to do so. Recent example we have seen in iPhone 11, and price adjustment to Macbook Pro/Air and buyers have responded positively.

javacowboy 664 comments · 20 Years

About 4 years ago

The fact is Windows isn't the train wreck it used to be, and is closing the gap with macOS (in many ways deficient but still good enough for all intents and purposes).

Linux distros are getting better and more polished.

On the other hand, macOS has largely stood still (dark mode and some solid but unexciting security features).

The very best pro PC laptops such as the XPS (2020 keyboard layout notwithstanding) and ThinkPad X1 Carbon are compelling offers.

Apple may still offer the very best premium experience for its mobile devices, but I sense a lack of will on the part of the company to keep up with the ultra-competitive PC industry.

cy_starkman 653 comments · 16 Years

About 4 years ago

javacowboy said:

The fact is Windows isn't the train wreck it used to be, and is closing the gap with macOS (in many ways deficient but still good enough for all intents and purposes).

Linux distros are getting better and more polished.

On the other hand, macOS has largely stood still (dark mode and some solid but unexciting security features).

The very best pro PC laptops such as the XPS (2020 keyboard layout notwithstanding) and ThinkPad X1 Carbon are compelling offers.

Apple may still offer the very best premium experience for its mobile devices, but I sense a lack of will on the part of the company to keep up with the ultra-competitive PC industry.

while what you say won’t be popular - it has truth in it.

there are some very fine windows laptops available, good builds, ports and even by some miracle trackpads.

windows 10 is fine really and in some respects is being updated faster, as it is now dealt with more “app” like; apple still treats macos as a monolithic build that can only change once a year.

the 16” is a bit compelling, finally. and apple’s seamless and excellent apple id and icloud work, with files, photos, notes, hand off and all the integrated things really stomps windows - but people can’t easily know that and you have to set it up well and be all in with an Apple Watch and iPhone etc and pay for iCloud and Music/Match... and it is useless for companies

Apple is really wedded to its products and services being for a singular person.