Mac shipments continue to slide in Q4 as PC market grows
Apple's share of the worldwide PC market continued a year-long downward trend amidst a wider industry rebound, as Mac shipments shrank in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to estimates released on Monday by market research firms Gartner and IDC
Gartner's fourth quarter numbers.
Apple landed in fourth place on an estimated 5.26 million Macs shipped during the last quarter of 2019 to take 7.5% of the market, down from 5.43 million units in the same period in 2018, Gartner said in its report.
IDC disagreed on exact unit numbers, finding Mac shipments at 4.72 million in quarter four, but also put Apple down 5.3% from 4.98 million year-over-year. The performance was good for a 6.6% marketshare, IDC said.
Both Gartner and IDC found the Mac maker suffered the worst quarterly decline of any top-five vendor, exacerbating a situation that according to Gartner began in the year-ago quarter.
The research firms also disagreed on Acer, with Gartner showing the Taiwanese firm in sixth place, up 3.5% on the year with 3.99 million units shipped and a 5.7% share of the market. IDC, however, estimates Acer was nipping at Apple's heels with 4.37 million units shipped, down 4.2% from 2018. Gartner has Asus in the fifth spot with 4.06 million shipments and a 5.8% share of the market.
IDC's fourth quarter numbers.
Lenovo was the top PC manufacturer on both lists, with the Gartner estimating shipments of 17.5 million units to IDC's 17.83 million. Both research firms have Lenovo at a 24.8% marketshare.
HP and Dell finished in second and third, respectively, with Gartner estimating 16.13 million units shipped for HP, up 5.4% year-over-year. IDC put HP's shipments at 17.17 million units, up 6.9% from the same period last year. Dell shipped 12.11 million computers, up 12.1% year-over-year, according to Gartner, while IDC put the company's shipments up 10.7% at 12.46 million units.
Overall, Gartner found the industry grew 2.3% from the same time last year, a more conservative outlook as compared to IDC's 4.8% growth rate.
Gartner's fourth quarter numbers.
Apple landed in fourth place on an estimated 5.26 million Macs shipped during the last quarter of 2019 to take 7.5% of the market, down from 5.43 million units in the same period in 2018, Gartner said in its report.
IDC disagreed on exact unit numbers, finding Mac shipments at 4.72 million in quarter four, but also put Apple down 5.3% from 4.98 million year-over-year. The performance was good for a 6.6% marketshare, IDC said.
Both Gartner and IDC found the Mac maker suffered the worst quarterly decline of any top-five vendor, exacerbating a situation that according to Gartner began in the year-ago quarter.
The research firms also disagreed on Acer, with Gartner showing the Taiwanese firm in sixth place, up 3.5% on the year with 3.99 million units shipped and a 5.7% share of the market. IDC, however, estimates Acer was nipping at Apple's heels with 4.37 million units shipped, down 4.2% from 2018. Gartner has Asus in the fifth spot with 4.06 million shipments and a 5.8% share of the market.
IDC's fourth quarter numbers.
Lenovo was the top PC manufacturer on both lists, with the Gartner estimating shipments of 17.5 million units to IDC's 17.83 million. Both research firms have Lenovo at a 24.8% marketshare.
HP and Dell finished in second and third, respectively, with Gartner estimating 16.13 million units shipped for HP, up 5.4% year-over-year. IDC put HP's shipments at 17.17 million units, up 6.9% from the same period last year. Dell shipped 12.11 million computers, up 12.1% year-over-year, according to Gartner, while IDC put the company's shipments up 10.7% at 12.46 million units.
Overall, Gartner found the industry grew 2.3% from the same time last year, a more conservative outlook as compared to IDC's 4.8% growth rate.
Comments
They won’t sell more than what’s roughly in this range, and they never really have, at least as long as I’ve had an account on AI.
I don’t see the issue.
Pardon me while I proceed with ignoring this crap.
there are some very fine windows laptops available, good builds, ports and even by some miracle trackpads.
windows 10 is fine really and in some respects is being updated faster, as it is now dealt with more “app” like; apple still treats macos as a monolithic build that can only change once a year.
the 16” is a bit compelling, finally. and apple’s seamless and excellent apple id and icloud work, with files, photos, notes, hand off and all the integrated things really stomps windows - but people can’t easily know that and you have to set it up well and be all in with an Apple Watch and iPhone etc and pay for iCloud and Music/Match... and it is useless for companies
Apple is really wedded to its products and services being for a singular person.
Yes, another analyst article for the disgruntled Mac crowd to circle-jerk over. And as sure as the Sun rises in the East they trot out the "overpriced" tripe. Yes, Apple is doomed once again.
When you have a “commodity” industry where the number of units returned to manufacturer are usually pretty high, basing the health of that market solely on the number of units shipped, is disingenuous.
Both of these companies have infamously historically conflated statistics of “sponsor” companies and downplay those of others.
$1500 Macs with vampire video.
Crappy keyboards.
Few to no ports.
Sealed battery compartment on laptops, keyboards and mice.
Macs that cannot work as a base for HomeKit.
Last year's processors at tomorrow's prices.
No Face ID or Touch ID on desktops.
What is not to like?
The bigger question is why the iPhone 'halo effect' hasn't pushed Mac revenues even higher and that is where Apple is lacking IMO and that is why I've always said Apple is underperforming with the Mac.
Obviously we don't need computers as much as we did before but there is still a huge PC market and I think Apple could take a far bigger chunk out of it. And while tablets are trying to chip their way in, the things we said were absolutely necessary to make them truly viable options (not least file management) are only just appearing and have to mature.
Instead of looking at what has been achieved, it is sometimes better to look at what could have been achieved but wasn't.
There are a few reasons why, but clearly price and product stagnation are two clear identifiers.
Being the multi billion dollar business that it is (the classic computer/OS division), it should have focused on its core business: the Mac.
Tim Cook may regard the Mac as just another revenue stream, that pales in comparison to the real moneymaker (iPhone) but the truth is, as a division, the Mac unit went off the rails (yes, in spite of increased revenues).
That's why I've long argued for spinning the division off, putting the word 'computer' back in the name, and pumping some energy back into things. To apply some Apple terminology here, if we have 'good, better, best', then we are at 'better' only.
The Mini, should never have languished for so long. The Pro should have been 'fixed' long before it was. The 2016 MBP redesign should not have been the only design. The same iMac should not have been offered for two consecutive Christmas seasons. A low end tower should have been an option.
I agree that Homekit should have been designed into macOS from the outset.
The home WiFi division should have been expanded instead of disbanded.
Blaming intel for not delivering is a cop out. There are more areas that can be improved (not least pricing).
Actually how about you go to notebookcheck and do a quick comparison, just to see the cinebench score?
That said, all the 13" Pro did a good job, despite a generation behind, it still manages to pull more CPU performance than most 10th gen Ultrabooks -- cooling does matter. Of course, it won't always be as OEMs releasing more prominent designs, which is why you heard the rumors of a new 13".
Apple needs to do 3 things with the MacBook line:
1) Continue to upgrade it (why is Apple News so sucky on the Mac? You can't even adjust the size/zoom! And, why no FaceBook app?).
Why would Apple make vast range of laptops as you described when another company is doing that already. I believe Apple already has a confusing batch of products which should be whittled down further. I understand the desktop is not where Apple's profits are any longer but gee whiz surely the design could be improved, how many years has it locked and performed the same 7-8?