Apple's Mac sees strong growth amid coronavirus-fueled PC market boom
Apple's Mac segment grew nearly 39% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2020 amid double-digit growth across the broader PC market.
Credit: Andrew O'Hara, AppleInsider
As consumers and businesses switch to remote education and work during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, research firm IDC estimates that global PC shipments grew 14.6% in Q3 2020 and reached 81.3 million units shipped.
The research firm also estimates that Apple shipped 6.89 million macOS devices during the quarter, up from 4.59 million units in the year-ago quarter. That represents year-over-year growth of 38.9%, IDC's estimates show.
"Consumer demand and institutional demand approached record levels in some cases," IDC Research Manager Jitesh
Ubrani said. "Had the market not been hampered by component shortages, notebook shipments would have soared even higher during the third quarter as market appetite was yet unsatiated."
Apple's market share also grew slightly during the same period. In Q3 2020, Apple had an 8.5% share of the market, up from 7% in Q3 2019. Apple ranks as the fourth largest PC maker, behind Lenovo, HP and Dell but ahead of Acer.
IDC estimates that Lenovo shipped 19.2 million units in Q3 2020; HP shipped 18.6 million units; Dell shipped 11.9 million units; and Acer, in fifth place, shipped 6 million units.
Growth was similar across most markets in region, with strong single-digit growth in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. In Latin America, the traditional PC market posted double-digit growth for the first time in five years.
In the U.S., the traditional PC market saw an "extraordinary quarter posing strong double-digit shipment growth" fueled by stay-at-home orders and inventory replenishment. But while notebooks saw their shipments strengthened, the desktop market declined slightly year-over-year.
Throughout the quarter, IDC suggests that shortages of critical components led to a backlog of orders and a "missed opportunity" for many PC makers.
"The PC industry rode into the third quarter with a sizable backlog of unfulfilled orders," said Linn Huang, IDC research vice president of Devices and Displays. "And it appears the quarter will end under the same auspices. Given that the shortages have been due more to a shortfall of business planning than a technical glitch, we do not anticipate a sudden surge in capacity. Consequently, this backlog will likely carry into 2021."
Update: Gartner has also released PC shipment estimates for the third quarter, showing an uptick of 3.6% on strong growth from front-runner Lenovo. Apple ranked fourth with 5.5 million Mac shipments, up 7.3% on the year.
Credit: Andrew O'Hara, AppleInsider
As consumers and businesses switch to remote education and work during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, research firm IDC estimates that global PC shipments grew 14.6% in Q3 2020 and reached 81.3 million units shipped.
The research firm also estimates that Apple shipped 6.89 million macOS devices during the quarter, up from 4.59 million units in the year-ago quarter. That represents year-over-year growth of 38.9%, IDC's estimates show.
"Consumer demand and institutional demand approached record levels in some cases," IDC Research Manager Jitesh
Ubrani said. "Had the market not been hampered by component shortages, notebook shipments would have soared even higher during the third quarter as market appetite was yet unsatiated."
Apple's market share also grew slightly during the same period. In Q3 2020, Apple had an 8.5% share of the market, up from 7% in Q3 2019. Apple ranks as the fourth largest PC maker, behind Lenovo, HP and Dell but ahead of Acer.
IDC estimates that Lenovo shipped 19.2 million units in Q3 2020; HP shipped 18.6 million units; Dell shipped 11.9 million units; and Acer, in fifth place, shipped 6 million units.
Growth was similar across most markets in region, with strong single-digit growth in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. In Latin America, the traditional PC market posted double-digit growth for the first time in five years.
In the U.S., the traditional PC market saw an "extraordinary quarter posing strong double-digit shipment growth" fueled by stay-at-home orders and inventory replenishment. But while notebooks saw their shipments strengthened, the desktop market declined slightly year-over-year.
Throughout the quarter, IDC suggests that shortages of critical components led to a backlog of orders and a "missed opportunity" for many PC makers.
"The PC industry rode into the third quarter with a sizable backlog of unfulfilled orders," said Linn Huang, IDC research vice president of Devices and Displays. "And it appears the quarter will end under the same auspices. Given that the shortages have been due more to a shortfall of business planning than a technical glitch, we do not anticipate a sudden surge in capacity. Consequently, this backlog will likely carry into 2021."
Update: Gartner has also released PC shipment estimates for the third quarter, showing an uptick of 3.6% on strong growth from front-runner Lenovo. Apple ranked fourth with 5.5 million Mac shipments, up 7.3% on the year.
Comments
ifthe M series chips outperform intel i9 series, Apple May well charge MORE for Macs.
the cash they save compared to paying intel will pas the famous Apple profit margin and stocks will soar yet again.
1. An 11 inch iPad Pro with 256 GB of storage costs $899. If you have a case for a MacBook Air being less, make it. An entry level MacBook Air doesn't need a "Pro" chip? Fine ... a 256 GB MacBook Air costs $750. And remember: iPads don't have keyboards.
2. You presume that macOS is as popular - and Windows as unpopular - with the general populace as it is with Apple fans. Or that this same general populace is so enamored with Apple's engineering and product design that they will run out and get a new computer just because it has the same general CPU in it that an iPhone or iPad has. There is ... no basis for this presumption. Even if there were some basis for the presumption other factors - an entry level Mac will still cost twice as much as an entry level Lenovo, Dell or HP while not being able to run nearly as much software and will require learning an entirely new OS - would inhibit it.
ARM-based Macs is a huge deal ... for people who already exclusively buy Macs and other Apple products already. The rest ... well ask them if their computer's CPU and GPU were made by Intel, AMD or Nvidia, and whether their hard drive is SSD. What percentage of them would be able to tell you? (Note: this applies to most Mac owners too.)
People who are convinced that Apple is paying Intel all this money are going to be disappointed. The Intel Core i3 costs Apple less than $50 and the Intel Core i5 less than $100. While the i7, i9 and Xeon cost a bit more - and even better they will no longer need to buy AMD GPUs for those models - Apple sells far less of those (Mac Pros, iMacs, top end MacBook Pros) than they do the entry level and midrange MacBook Air and MacBook Pro devices that contain the i3 and i5. The same 10th gen Intel Core i3 that is in a $1000 MacBook Air is in a $450 Inspiron or IdeaPad (with the same specs). Whoever Apple is paying all this money too, it isn't Intel so save the dreams of increased margins and stock prices.