Apple Mac shipments slide 13% in Q3 amid PC market slowdown
Apple's share of the worldwide PC market continued a steady decline in the third calendar quarter of 2016, with estimates from market research firms IDC and Gartner both seeing shipments down least 13 percent from last year.

Source: Gartner
Gartner estimates Apple took 7.2 percent of the worldwide PC market during the second quarter of 2016 on 4.9 million Mac shipments, down 13.4 percent from 7.8 percent and 5.7 million shipments in the year ago quarter. The fifth-place performance was the worst seen from a top-five vendor.
The downward trend might be linked to developing markets, where users are more likely to purchase portable devices rather than dedicated desktop or laptop computers.
"In emerging markets, PC penetration is low, but consumers are not keen to own PCs. Consumers in emerging markets primarily use smartphones or phablets for their computing needs, and they don't find the need to use a PC as much as consumers in mature markets," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner.
Behind Apple is Acer, whose figures are even more dismal at 14.1 percent negative growth for the same period. The company garnered 6.7 percent of the market on 4.6 million unit shipments.
Retaining the top spot was Lenovo, which managed boost its stake of the worldwide market to 20.9 percent despite a 2.4 percent dip in shipment growth year over year. The Chinese company shipped 14.4 million PCs in the third quarter, Gartner said.
Second place HP grew shipments by 2.3 percent to end the quarter with 20.4 percent of the market, while Dell ranked third with a 14.7 percent share, up 2.6 percent year over year. Asus also saw positive growth of 2.4 percent to end the quarter with 7.8 percent of the market.
Overall, the worldwide PC market dipped 5.7 percent from the year ago quarter on weak back-to-school demand and continued low demand in both developed and developing markets, Gartner said.
As for the U.S. market, Apple was the only top-five vendor to post negative growth in the third quarter, dropping to fourth place with a 12.9 percent marketshare. The company shipped 2 million units, down 10.7 percent from last year. HP led in the U.S. with 4.8 million shipments and a 29.7 percent share of the market, while Dell landed in the No. 2 spot with a 24 percent share. Worldwide market leader Lenovo usurped Apple with a strong performance up 15.3 percent year over year. Asus rounded out the top five with a 5.1 percent marketshare on 824,000 shipments.

Source: IDC
Estimates from IDC were largely similar to those from Gartner, showing Apple's share of the worldwide PC market dip 13 percent in the quarter ending in September.
Again, Apple is seen as posting the largest slowdown of any top-five vendor. Shipments came in at just over 5 million units, down 13 percent from last year's 5.8 million units. Apple managed to retain its spot in fourth place ahead of Asus, which saw 5.2 percent shipment growth to capture 6.9 percent of the market.
Like Gartner, IDC pegs Lenovo as the quarter's top vendor with a 21.3 percent marketshare despite a growth contraction of 3.2 percent. HP was close behind with 21.2 percent of the market on 14.4 million units shipped. Third place Dell grew shipments 6.2 percent year over year to end quarter three with 10.8 units shipped and 15.8 percent of the market, according to IDC.
For the U.S., the research firm estimates Mac shipment growth declined 13.2 percent to 2.1 million units shipped, good for 11.8 percent of the market. Knocking Apple into fourth place was Lenovo, which saw a 17 percent boost in shipments lead to 15.2 percent marketshare. HP shipped an estimated 5.3 million units to lead Dell's 4.6 million. Acer rounded out the top five with 765,000 units shipped, up 3.8 percent year over year.
Apple could halt the downward slide with an expected fall refresh of its popular MacBook lineup. The as-yet-unannounced release is expected to bring a hotly anticipated MacBook Pro revamp with OLED touchbar and ultra slim form factor. Other rumors suggest Apple plans to expand its MacBook thin-and-light series with a 13-inch model some time in the third quarter.

Source: Gartner
Gartner estimates Apple took 7.2 percent of the worldwide PC market during the second quarter of 2016 on 4.9 million Mac shipments, down 13.4 percent from 7.8 percent and 5.7 million shipments in the year ago quarter. The fifth-place performance was the worst seen from a top-five vendor.
The downward trend might be linked to developing markets, where users are more likely to purchase portable devices rather than dedicated desktop or laptop computers.
"In emerging markets, PC penetration is low, but consumers are not keen to own PCs. Consumers in emerging markets primarily use smartphones or phablets for their computing needs, and they don't find the need to use a PC as much as consumers in mature markets," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner.
Behind Apple is Acer, whose figures are even more dismal at 14.1 percent negative growth for the same period. The company garnered 6.7 percent of the market on 4.6 million unit shipments.
Retaining the top spot was Lenovo, which managed boost its stake of the worldwide market to 20.9 percent despite a 2.4 percent dip in shipment growth year over year. The Chinese company shipped 14.4 million PCs in the third quarter, Gartner said.
Second place HP grew shipments by 2.3 percent to end the quarter with 20.4 percent of the market, while Dell ranked third with a 14.7 percent share, up 2.6 percent year over year. Asus also saw positive growth of 2.4 percent to end the quarter with 7.8 percent of the market.
Overall, the worldwide PC market dipped 5.7 percent from the year ago quarter on weak back-to-school demand and continued low demand in both developed and developing markets, Gartner said.
As for the U.S. market, Apple was the only top-five vendor to post negative growth in the third quarter, dropping to fourth place with a 12.9 percent marketshare. The company shipped 2 million units, down 10.7 percent from last year. HP led in the U.S. with 4.8 million shipments and a 29.7 percent share of the market, while Dell landed in the No. 2 spot with a 24 percent share. Worldwide market leader Lenovo usurped Apple with a strong performance up 15.3 percent year over year. Asus rounded out the top five with a 5.1 percent marketshare on 824,000 shipments.

Source: IDC
Estimates from IDC were largely similar to those from Gartner, showing Apple's share of the worldwide PC market dip 13 percent in the quarter ending in September.
Again, Apple is seen as posting the largest slowdown of any top-five vendor. Shipments came in at just over 5 million units, down 13 percent from last year's 5.8 million units. Apple managed to retain its spot in fourth place ahead of Asus, which saw 5.2 percent shipment growth to capture 6.9 percent of the market.
Like Gartner, IDC pegs Lenovo as the quarter's top vendor with a 21.3 percent marketshare despite a growth contraction of 3.2 percent. HP was close behind with 21.2 percent of the market on 14.4 million units shipped. Third place Dell grew shipments 6.2 percent year over year to end quarter three with 10.8 units shipped and 15.8 percent of the market, according to IDC.
For the U.S., the research firm estimates Mac shipment growth declined 13.2 percent to 2.1 million units shipped, good for 11.8 percent of the market. Knocking Apple into fourth place was Lenovo, which saw a 17 percent boost in shipments lead to 15.2 percent marketshare. HP shipped an estimated 5.3 million units to lead Dell's 4.6 million. Acer rounded out the top five with 765,000 units shipped, up 3.8 percent year over year.
Apple could halt the downward slide with an expected fall refresh of its popular MacBook lineup. The as-yet-unannounced release is expected to bring a hotly anticipated MacBook Pro revamp with OLED touchbar and ultra slim form factor. Other rumors suggest Apple plans to expand its MacBook thin-and-light series with a 13-inch model some time in the third quarter.
Comments
- Buy a mac with a TN panel;
- Buy a Mac without a SSD;
- Buy a Mac that has components from 2 or 3 years ago?
That basically addresses all Macs on the market besides the rMB and the upgraded riMacs, that are expensive. Clearly this is the cause: Most Macs are crap.However, Apple can easily mac the best personal computers. Are they waiting for something in particular? They have to be waiting for some special component, otherwise there's no excuse at all, besides milking uninformed users.
I just wonder if this amazing pipeline Tim keeps talking about is clogged or something. Seems like every other company is nimble enough to keep their computers refreshed, but the thousand day old MacPro that innovates out of Phil's ass is 2 generations behind on cpu, 3 generations behind on gpu, ports are outdated, low on ram and storage and is still priced as if it were new tech. Man, I wonder why nobody is buying them. As the article states, computer sales are trending away from consumers and more towards businesses and creative pros. It would be nice if they showed some effort towards this market, otherwise don't be surprised to see their computer share continue to slide.
So what you're saying is the PC (and Mac) market is witnessing declining market share due to negative sales growth and is thus being relegated to being a specialized device. If so, why participate in such a market?
It's the people that would buy 16 GB iPhones until few months ago.
At this point, what is making their Mac sales not falling that fast is the same reason that make Blackberry and Nokia grow after the iPhone, or the S4 after the S3. Inertia of many factors, like mindshare, being locked in, etc. Eventually it will kick in, If Apple doesn't revamp the line-up quickly and cleans that garbage products. Can you guys imagine Dell selling a TN panel and outdated components at more than one thousand dollars? What scammy company would do that?
They also have to understand that the appeal of iPhones and iPads to our company is the seamless integration with our Mac's. Take away our macs and we also say good bye to our iPhones and iPads too. With how big Apple is (over a hundred thousand employees) , I just can't understand why they can't keep all of their macs refreshed and competive.
Personally, I still so happy with my 2013 13" MBP, i7 + 8 + 960GB drive I installed, that I will not upgrade this year. It's been a crazy reliable, functional machine that I beat the hell out of daily. The problem is, I'm pretty much a power user and I don't need more. But hey, that's just me.
It will be interesting to hear what Tim has to say. He can reiterate pipeline and exciting products to come, but no matter how you slice it, a drop of 13% is still leaving something on the table.
I'm all for Mac updates, not for the sake of updating, but when it makes it sense.
Macs last forever - they are well made - and I think people are not seeing the real need to upgrade barring any big developments.. I sold my old iMac 2011 27" for a great price. Try and sell a 2011 PC for anything but scrap!