The worldwide PC shipments were totalled at around 61.7 million in the first quarter of 2018, as reported by Gartner. According to the report, this was a 1.4 % decline from the first quarter of 2017. The PC market is facing a 14th consecutive decline from the second quarter of 2012. And while most PC manufacturers are facing disappointing sales, Apple’s Mac and MacBook sales are pretty steady compared to the same quarter a year ago.
Though not much, Apple did gain market share in the last quarter. Of about 4.24 million Macs were sold in the second quarter of 2017. While other companies are struggling, Apple’s market share has grown from a 6.7 to a 6.9 this year.
With respect to sales, Apple was ranked fourth among PC vendors during the last quarter, after HP, Lenovo, and Dell. HP, the number one PC vendor, shipped 12.9 million PCs during the quarter and Lenovo shipped 12.4 million. Dell was positioned third with 9.9 million shipments. Gartner’s report this year shows a similar scenario with HP, Lenovo, and Dell holding strong in the top three positions followed by Apple. Garter also showed a 1.5 % increase in Apple’s shipments.
However, as the overall worldwide PC market declined 1.4 % year over year, Apple saw less growth in the US. During quarter one of 2018, Apple shipped an estimated 1.49 million Macs, which was a 0.5% increase from the last quarter’s sales. Dell was the top US PC vendor with 3.44 million shipments.
But according to IDC, the overall worldwide PC shipments remained flat with a 60.38 million PCs shipped during the first quarter. It further reported that Apple was the number five worldwide PC vendor with just 4 million Macs shipped and a 4.8 % decline from the previous year. IDC placed Apple after Acer while Garter placed it before.
Now, it is important to note here that both Gartner and IDC are preliminary and the numbers sometimes shift drastically. Ultimately, their data should be treated with scepticism, especially when it comes to Apple. The company has yet to report its earnings for the quarter, which means there could be some discrepancy in the numbers.
It has been some time now since Apple refreshed last of its Mac lineup, with the exception of iMac Pro, so this decline in growth is not that surprising. Apple is expected to launch the refreshed MacBook, MacBook Pro and iMac models sometime this year, most probably at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June.