Wesley Hilliard
Apple continues to benefit from a PC demand surge, but growth appears to be slowing down for the greater PC market, a new report suggests.
Demand for PCs can be attributed to the ongoing pandemic and the shift to work from home. Apple has also gained market attention from its transition to Apple Silicon processors in its Mac lineup.
According to an IDC report, PC demand remains strong in Q2 2021, but the market conditions may be cooling. Q2 2021 saw only a 13% growth in the PC market after it grew 55.9% in Q1.
"The PC market's hot streak continued to drive heavy investments from the supply side including the entry of new vendors as well as additional spend from underdogs," said Jitesh Ubrani research manager for IDC's Mobile and Consumer Device Trackers. "And while the top 5 continue to drive volume, the smaller vendors have helped drive growth by offering unique features or niche designs."
Apple tied for the fourth most popular PC brand with Acer. Both companies ranked below Lenovo, HP, and Dell by shipments. Apple saw 6,156 shipments with 9.4% YoY growth in the PC segment.
Top 5 PC companies Q2 2021. Source: IDCIDC expects consumer demand to slow as offices open back up. However, that in turn means the commercial segment could add additional demand.
Apple released the 24-inch iMac in April 2021, which could account for the slight year-over-year growth increase. More redesigned Macs are expected in the fall, which could continue to drive demand.
The IDC report draws its information from supply chain sources, which historically are not always reliable. Expect to hear more information on Mac performance during the quarterly earnings report on July 27.
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Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
7 Comments
Demand is outstripping supply at all of these companies, so it is hard to draw firm conclusions.
I'm not surprised to see double-digit growth at Dell, not even at Lenovo. They both have such a wide assortment of machines (I bought a couple myself) but the same relative growth at Acer surprises me more than just a little.
Top 5 Companies, Worldwide Traditional PC Shipments, Market Share, and Year-Over-Year Growth, Q2 2021 (Preliminary results, shipments are in thousands of units)
Company
2Q21 Shipments
2Q21 Market Share
2Q20 Shipments
2Q20 Market Share
2Q21/2Q20 Growth
1. Lenovo
20,005
23.9%
17,407
23.6%
14.9%
2. HP Inc.
18,594
22.2%
18,104
24.5%
2.7%
3. Dell Technologies
13,976
16.7%
12,010
16.3%
16.4%
4T. Apple*
6,156
7.4%
5,630
7.6%
9.4%
4T. Acer Group*
6,088
7.3%
5,177
7.0%
17.6%
Others
18,795
22.5%
15,551
21.0%
20.9%
Total
83,614
100.0%
73,879
100.0%
13.2%
Remember that these numbers are from IDC, which has a poor record over the last few decades. So your surprise may simply be a reflection of the source's methodologies rather than the market realities.
Remember that these numbers from IDC include Cromebooks.