Apple becomes No. 3 PC maker in US with industry-leading 21% growth
Apple climbed to third place among U.S. PC vendors in the fourth quarter of 2011 as the rest of the top five vendors saw shipments decline year over year as part of a worldwide contraction in the PC market, according to a new analysis.
Research group Gartner released preliminary PC shipment results for the fourth quarter of 2011. According to the report, Apple saw 20.7 percent growth of Mac sales in the U.S. market from the year ago quarter, pushing it past Toshiba and Acer to take the No. 3 spot behind HP and Dell. Its estimated 2.1 million Mac shipments during the period gave it an 11.6 share of the market.
Faced with the possibility that HP would spin off its PC business, customers shied away from the world's largest PC maker in the fourth quarter, causing a 26.1 percent decline year over year. Shipments fell from 5.6 million in the last quarter of 2010 to 4.1 million in the most recent quarter. HP's new CEO Meg Whitman worked to resolve the uncertainty by announcing in October that the company would keep its PC business, but the damage appeared to have already been done.
The firm estimates second-place Dell had a 4.5 percent decline in shipments from 4.2 million in the year ago quarter to 4.0 million in the most recent quarter. Oddly enough, the company still gained market share as the overall PC market in the U.S. saw a larger decline of 5.9 percent.
Toshiba's shipments declined from 1.97 million a year ago to 1.93 in the December quarter, leaving it with 10.7 percent market share. Acer came in fifth after an 11.4 percent decline in shipments.
Credit: Gartner
Weak holiday shipments around the world resulted in a 1.4 percent decline year over year in the global PC market. Shipments totaled 92.2 million units during the most recent quarter, compared to 93.5 million last year. HP remained the No. 1 vendor worldwide, despite a 16.2 percent drop in shipments. Lenovo climbed to second place with 23 percent growth. Dell, Acer and Asus rounded out the top five PC vendors.
“While economic uncertainty in Western Europe had an effect on consumer PC shipments, expectations of a healthier economic outlook in North America could not stimulate consumer PC demand in that region," principal analyst Mikako Kitagawa said. "The healthy professional PC market as well as growth in emerging markets could not compensate for the weaknesses in mature markets, with overall growth still negative.”
Gartner attributed some of the slowdown in overall PC sales to a lack of consumer interest in Intel's new ultrabook initiative. The firm did, however, note that 2012 will be a "big debut stage" for the category, based on the range of ultrabooks on display at the Consumer Electronics Show this week.
“Ultrabooks were quietly introduced into the market during the 4Q11 holiday season,” Kitagawa said. “Ultrabooks didn’t seem to draw consumers’ attention. Consumers had very little understanding and awareness of ultrabooks, and only a small group of consumers was willing to pay the price premium for such models."
Analysts also warned that the negative impact of hard-disk drive (HDD) shortages brought about by floods in Thailand last October may not have been fully realized in the fourth quarter. They expect a "major impact" will materialize in the first half of 2012 and could potentially continue throughout the year. The shortages are expected to affect PC shipment growth during 2012.
For its part, Apple is not expected to be seriously affected by the Thailand HDD shortage. Inventory data provided to AppleInsider last month revealed few of the strains that the rest of the industry is experiencing. The growing success of the MacBook Air, which eschews an HDD in favor of a solid-state drive, has been viewed as one factor that helped Apple avoid shortages.
Comments
Subtract Apple's sales from the 4Q2011 and 4Q2010 totals: the respective ex-Apple totals are 15.855M and 17.343M. Basically, the Windows PC industry went -8.6%, while Apple had +20.7%.
Apple is definitely doomed.
Where's slap-happy? I can't wait to see him explain how this information proves beyond any doubt that Apple is doomed.
Well he say that Apple is "under 10" and number 3 is definitely under 10.
These don't include iPads right? I'd imagine the number to be hire if it did.
Of course. Some estimates put iPad sales as high as 22 M in the 4th quarter:
http://www.t3.com/news/apple-ipad-2-...on-units-in-q4
That would make Apple the leader by far. However, I don't buy it. I don't really think that iPads should be included in computer sales for most purposes.
These don't include iPads right? I'd imagine the number to be hire if it did.
No, these numbers do not include iPads. The industry would go apesh1t if Apple was listed as the number one computer seller in the world.
I believe in the near future, most computers people use will be more like the iPad.
That would make Apple the leader by far. However, I don't buy it. I don't really think that iPads should be included in computer sales for most purposes.
Half of the devices at CES are wireless devices intended to be used with the iPhone and iPad. Speakers, printers, and hard drives.
No, these numbers do not include iPads. The industry would go apesh1t if Apple was listed as the number one computer seller in the world.
By the basic definition of what and computer is and what it does. The iPad is most certainly a computer. I think at this point the industry isn't ready to accept that notion. Because the iPad breaks a lot of the conventions of the traditional computer.
I believe in the near future, most computers people use will be more like the iPad.
How can they pioneer a new category of mobile device and have it be considered in an old category. They have in reality somewhere upwards of 75% of the tablet market. That's just awesome.
Who in their right mind would by a dell/HP/ms pos? Ugh!
I am on my sixth Dell machine. The only problem I have ever had is a broken keyboard. I have not always purchased mid to high level computers too. A pretty good track record for a pos.
Made 500% on Dell stock in the late 90's. Plenty more money left to buy more Dell machines.
Apple units- I will pass.
I am on my sixth Dell machine. The only problem I have ever had is a broken keyboard. I have not always purchased mid to high level computers too. A pretty good track record for a pos.
Made 500% on Dell stock in the late 90's. Plenty more money left to buy more Dell machines.
Apple units- I will pass.
I used to buy nothing but Dell's, right up until between 2005 and 2007, they went to crap. Whenever I had a problem prior to 2004 or 2005, Icould talk to a knowledgable American tech. After that, I got transferred to Pakistan or India and had difficulties understanding the person at the other end. Additionally, my high end laptops and desktops started having more and more hardware failures. In 2008, I simply had enough of having motherboard replacements, fan failures, keyboard failures, etc... Switched to Mac and haven't look back. I have bought numerous Macbooks, Macbook Pro's, iphones, ipads and iMac's, and not a single one has had a problem. Not one! Wonder why Apple is #1 in customer satisfaction?
Let's frame these numbers a different way.
Subtract Apple's sales from the 4Q2011 and 4Q2010 totals: the respective ex-Apple totals are 15.855M and 17.343M. Basically, the Windows PC industry went -8.6%, while Apple had +20.7%.
Apple is definitely doomed.
Is that right? My calculations ended up with a 16.82% drop in non-Mac PCs YoY.
edit: I made a mistake...
4Q11: 17,929,764 total PCs - 2,074,800 Mac PCs = 15,854,964
4Q10: 19,061,005 total PCs- 1,718,400 Mac PCs = 17,342,605
Difference = -1,487,641 = -8.6%
You're right. I forget to remove Apple's 2010 numbers from my original calculations.
How can they pioneer a new category of mobile device and have it be considered in an old category. They have in reality somewhere upwards of 75% of the tablet market. That's just awesome.
I am on my sixth Dell machine. The only problem I have ever had is a broken keyboard. I have not always purchased mid to high level computers too. A pretty good track record for a pos.
Fail!
If you had gone the right way about this and saved up the money you spent on all those Dell machines you would almost be able to afford a Mac Book by now.
iMac G3 from 1999 - 2004
PowerBook G4 from 2003 - 2009
PowerMac G5 from 2004 - 2009
MacBook Pro from 2009 to today.
I am on my sixth Dell machine. The only problem I have ever had is a broken keyboard. I have not always purchased mid to high level computers too. A pretty good track record for a pos.
These don't include iPads right? I'd imagine the number to be hire if it did.
Never saw that. Thanks, a new one. Now I need to incorporate it. I guess it is a brain thing, as they both sound alike and one writes the other one. Happens to me too.