Apple's share of U.S. PC market rises to nearly 11% on strong growth

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Apple's share of the U.S. personal computer market rose to nearly 11 percent during the second quarter of 2011, with the Mac maker representing the only major PC manufacturer to report double-digit growth in a market that contracted by more than 4 percent.



Preliminary results released by market research firm IDC indicates that Apple shipped 1.917 million Macs stateside during the three-month period ended June, representing a 14.7 percent increase over the year ago quarter. The performance was strong enough to solidify the Cupertino-based company as the nation's No. 3 PC maker with a 10.7 percent share, up from 9.0 percent during the year ago quarter.



Although PC sales in the United States marked a substantial growth from the first quarter of 2011 with total shipments topping 17.8 million, the segment contracted 4.2 percent on a yearly basis. IDC contributed the decline to three primary factors: the ongoing contraction in the Mini Notebook (Netbook) market as consumers continue to shift towards tablets like the iPad; the second quarter of 2010's difficult-to-sustain 12 percent growth rate; and softened demand from corporate buyers who continue to focus on increasing share of their IT budget in new IT solutions such as cloud and virtualization.



"Given the weakness of [the second half of 2010], we expect a better market environment in [the second half of 2011] with mid-single digit growth rates in the third quarter's back to school and fourth quarter's holiday season," said Rajani Singh, research analyst, United States Quarterly PC Tracker.



IDC's preliminary U.S. PC market share estimates (in thousands) for the second quarter of 2011.



Aside from Apple, Toshiba was the only other major PC maker to report second quarter growth, which came in at just 3.7 percent from the local sale of 1.617 million units. That placed the Windows PC maker in 4th place with a 9.1 percent share of the U.S. market. Behind them was Acer, who saw growth decline more than 25 percent as consumers stopped buying its low-cost and cumbersome notebooks in favor of multimedia tablets like Apple's iPad.



Overall, HP topped the list of U.S. PC makers for the second quarter, shipping 4.692 million units (-0.6 percent growth) for a 2.63 percent share. It was followed by Dell, whose growth declined by a little more than 10 percent to 3.959 million units and a 22.2 percent share.



Meanwhile, rival market research firm Gartner reported for the first time in recent memory the same U.S. market share figure for Apple of 10.7 percent, but offered different figures to support the claim. In particular, Gartner said Apple shipped only 1.814 million systems stateside during the second quarter, representing just 8.5 percent growth compared to its 1.671 million actual shipments during the year ago quarter.



Gartner's preliminary U.S. PC market share estimates for the second quarter of 2011.



Both sets of figures are preliminary estimates and neither factor iPad sales into the mix.



Worldwide, both IDC and Gartner's numbers suggest that Apple could crack the global top 5 soon. Both estimates show Asus with between 4.4 million and 4.5 million total units shipped. Last quarter, Apple reported total Mac shipments of 3.76 million, and sales continue to grow consistently.



In the worldwide market, Gartner's estimates show HP to retain its crown as the market share leader, accounting for 17.4 percent of total global PC shipments in the second quarter of 2011. HP performed better than average in most regions, but was pulled down by a poor showing in the Asia/Pacific region. It shipped an estimated 14.9 million units in the quarter.



Dell took second place with 12.5 percent worldwide on estimated shipments of 10.6 million units, followed by Lenovo (12 percent, 10.2 million), Acer (10.9 percent, 9.3 million), Asus (5.2 percent, 4.5 million), and Toshiba (5.2 percent, 4.4 million).



Gartner found that the global PC market grew 2.3 percent in the quarter, and everyone except Acer and Toshiba saw market gains. Acer continued to drop precipitously as netbook sales wane, sliding 20.4 percent year over year.



"After strong growth in shipments of consumer PCs for four years, driven by strong demand for mini-notebooks and low-priced consumer notebooks, the market is shifting to modest, but steady growth," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. "The slow overall growth indicates that the PC market is still in a period of adjustment, which began in the second half of 2010."



IDC's estimates paint a similar picture, with HP atop the market taking an 18.1 percent total share. The Windows PC maker is estimated to have shipped 15.2 million units in the second quarter of 2011.



IDC's preliminary Worldwide PC market share estimates (in thousands) for the second quarter of 2011.



Again in second was Dell, with a 12.9 percent share and 10.9 million units estimated shipped. Lenovo took third with 12.2 percent and 10.3 million, followed by Acer with 10.9 percent on 9.2 million units, and Asus with 5.3 percent on 4.5 million units.



IDC found that the global PC market grew an estimated 2.6 percent year over year in the second quarter of 2011. The greatest market share gainer in the top 5 was Lenovo, which saw a sales increase of 22.9 percent from 2010. Acer again saw the greatest losses in the three-month frame, sliding 10.1 percent.



Gartner's preliminary Worldwide PC market share estimates for the second quarter of 2011.



"These preliminary results continue to reflect pressure from competing consumer and business products as well as cautious spending," said Jay Chou, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. "Nevertheless, product refreshes and promotions in the second half of the year as well as easier year-ago data should boost growth in the second half of the year."
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 50
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,403member
    The rate of growth will have to start to slow once it gets into the mid-to-upper teens, would be my guess. \



    But hey, the rest of the world, here we come!
  • Reply 2 of 50
    dr millmossdr millmoss Posts: 5,403member
    The Mac's market share peaked out during the early '90s at around 12% (if memory serves). If you'd have asked me five years ago if that number was ever achievable again I would have had to say no. Oddly enough, now that Apple is on the verge of making the impossible happen, at the same time, they've made the PC market share figure quite irrelevant, at least to their own business.
  • Reply 3 of 50
    eriamjheriamjh Posts: 1,631member
    Come on, 20%!
  • Reply 4 of 50
    t0mat0t0mat0 Posts: 58member
    Would be interested to see this as market share by profit not units. Ballmer was blustering on this - but then we know what happened regarding iPhone vs Windows Mobile phones a few years ago...
  • Reply 5 of 50
    jd_in_sbjd_in_sb Posts: 1,600member
    And that 11% doesn't even include the iPad. Amazing.
  • Reply 6 of 50
    ivabignivabign Posts: 61member
    Funny... The numbers in the first (IDC) column have commas - if listed as millions - Apple sold almost 2 billion computers.... Wow. Pretty good.



    (sarcasm) it would be nice if they got it right (thousands)
  • Reply 7 of 50
    stevetimstevetim Posts: 482member
    As a Marketeer myself I'm always amazed that when dealing with computers, Units are the measurement standard.



    I have always been more interested in dollars sold. Dollars sold is a much fairer comparison.



    In all other business that I deal with the typical powerpoint slide is never or seldom units sold but almost always dollar sales. Yet IDC never supplies that info.
  • Reply 8 of 50
    constable odoconstable odo Posts: 1,041member
    I just gotta see how the hedge fund managers are going to turn this into negative news for Apple.
  • Reply 9 of 50
    tt92618tt92618 Posts: 444member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jd_in_sb View Post


    And that 11% doesn't even include the iPad. Amazing.



    I find that especially interesting, given Microsoft's recent insistence that tablets are PC's. Just how would Apple's 'PC' market share look if IDC and the rest were to go ahead and honor Microsoft's wishes and count tablet sales as PC sales? Now that would make for an interesting day in Redmond, I imagine.
  • Reply 10 of 50
    So add them in...
  • Reply 11 of 50
    bloggerblogbloggerblog Posts: 2,462member
    One major hold-up is going to be Apple's track-record dealing with corporate or pro.
  • Reply 12 of 50
    inkswampinkswamp Posts: 337member
    Get ready everyone. Here come the viruses!
  • Reply 13 of 50
    mdriftmeyermdriftmeyer Posts: 7,503member
    The iPhone and iPad continue to drive more and more people towards traditional Macs.



    The expansion of these embedded devices into the Enterprise will only accelerate large deployments of these traditional Macs.
  • Reply 14 of 50
    apophisapophis Posts: 36member
    I'm always surprised at Apple's reported slice of market share pie when I walk into a café here in Oakland and Macbook's are easily over 90% of the computers being used.



    Is it an age thing? LIke mass media, it's more desirable to sell to the younger demographic, as they buy more music and software.



    A Business thing? When I walk into most startups around SF, I see the vast majority are using Macbook pros and iMac's. Maybe it's places like hospitals, govt. and car dealerships that are buying the PCs - places where you just need cheap, commodity hardware that office drones can run Outlook and Office.
  • Reply 15 of 50
    cameronjcameronj Posts: 2,357member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by apophis View Post


    I'm always surprised at Apple's reported slice of market share pie when I walk into a café here in Oakland and Macbook's are easily over 90% of the computers being used.



    Is it an age thing? LIke mass media, it's more desirable to sell to the younger demographic, as they buy more music and software.



    A Business thing? When I walk into most startups around SF, I see the vast majority are using Macbook pros and iMac's. Maybe it's places like hospitals, govt. and car dealerships that are buying the PCs - places where you just need cheap, commodity hardware that office drones can run Outlook and Office.



    It's a geography thing.
  • Reply 16 of 50
    hittrj01hittrj01 Posts: 753member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by apophis View Post


    I'm always surprised at Apple's reported slice of market share pie when I walk into a café here in Oakland and Macbook's are easily over 90% of the computers being used.



    Is it an age thing? LIke mass media, it's more desirable to sell to the younger demographic, as they buy more music and software.



    A Business thing? When I walk into most startups around SF, I see the vast majority are using Macbook pros and iMac's. Maybe it's places like hospitals, govt. and car dealerships that are buying the PCs - places where you just need cheap, commodity hardware that office drones can run Outlook and Office.



    I think you hit the nail on the head. The consumer market is such a small piece of the pie, but it's where all the profit is. Businesses, corporation, governments... they don't care about anything but the upfront cost of the machine, and Apple will never win that battle against $250-$300 per unit Dells. The thing of that, though, is that if you don't also sell support and services along with the machine, there is no profit in that market.
  • Reply 17 of 50
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    The rate of growth will have to start to slow once it gets into the mid-to-upper teens, would be my guess. \



    But hey, the rest of the world, here we come!



    I'm not so sure. Everyone I meet is switching and telling friends to switch. What's going to be left are businesses with specific software written for PCs like dentists. Give it five years and Macs will over take PCs.
  • Reply 18 of 50
    jimdreamworxjimdreamworx Posts: 1,095member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by inkswamp View Post


    Get ready everyone. Here come the viruses!



    Malware requiring you to enter an admin password, maybe.



    I'm still waiting for that self-propagating virus for OS X.
  • Reply 19 of 50
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cameronj View Post


    It's a geography thing.



    It's a decision thing.



    1. People who buy computers with their own money/to use themselves buy Macs.*

    2. People who buy computers with another's money and for others to use, in bulk, are worth bribing.



    * An exception, people esp small business who do business with government or major corps may 'need' Windows to interact.
  • Reply 20 of 50
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,177member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JimDreamworx View Post


    Malware requiring you to enter an admin password, maybe.



    I'm still waiting for that self-propagating virus for OS X.



    It's still a possibility until Apple plugs the PDF-exploit hole discovered last week. It doesn't require anything from the user except clicking on a pdf file. That's all that's needed.
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