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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Research firm IDC today released its preliminary calculations of PC shipments for the first quarter of 2013, finding the worst year-over-year performance in the nearly 20-year history of its tracking studies. According to IDC's numbers, the worldwide PC market declined nearly 14% compared to the first quarter of 2012, with the U.S. market declining by nearly 13%.
Despite some mild improvement in the economic environment and some new PC models offering Windows 8, PC shipments were down significantly across all regions compared to a year ago. Fading Mini Notebook shipments have taken a big chunk out of the low-end market while tablets and smartphones continue to divert consumer spending. PC industry efforts to offer touch capabilities and ultraslim systems have been hampered by traditional barriers of price and component supply, as well as a weak reception for Windows 8. The PC industry is struggling to identify innovations that differentiate PCs from other products and inspire consumers to buy, and instead is meeting significant resistance to changes perceived as cumbersome or costly.
While Apple's performance was far from stellar, the company did outperform the market by showing only a 7.5% decline in shipments in the United States. Apple's performance allowed it increase its third-place share of the U.S. market from 9.4% to 10.0% as leaders HP and Dell saw significant declines, but a smaller decline from Toshiba and strong growth from Lenovo placed those vendors close behind Apple.

idc_1q13_us1.png
IDC's Preliminary U.S. PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 1Q13 (Thousands of Units)
Apple does not rank on IDC's list of top five vendors on a worldwide basis, with Asus holding down the bottom spot at 5.7% of the market. Lenovo was, however, the only one of the top five worldwide vendors to avoid major declines in PC shipments, managing to hold steady amid the declining market.

Update: Gartner has released its own data showing a similar picture for the PC market as a whole, estimating an 11.2% year-over-year decline for the worldwide market and a 9.6% decline in the United States.

gartner_1q13_us.png
Gartner's Preliminary U.S. PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 1Q13 (Thousands of Units)
Gartner's numbers for Apple in the United States, however, show a completely different story, with Apple's shipments estimated to have risen by 7.4% compared to IDC's estimate of a 7.5% decline.

gartner_1q13_us_trend.png
Apple's U.S. Market Share Trend: 1Q06-1Q13 (Gartner)

Article Link: Apple's U.S. Mac Shipments Fall 7.5% as Overall PC Market Plunges 14% Year-Over-Year [Updated]
 

JAT

macrumors 603
Dec 31, 2001
6,473
124
Mpls, MN
Remember when people were worried about net books taking over the world? Tablets are succeeding.
 

Lancer

macrumors 68020
Jul 22, 2002
2,217
147
Australia
I said tablets and smartphones would start taking over, many people just need basic access to the internet for banking and shopping, which can be done on a phone.

But that being said I love my new 27" iMac! :D
 

Eidorian

macrumors Penryn
Mar 23, 2005
29,190
386
Indianapolis
My Late 2007 MacBook is now on its last legs. I does not even have a battery right now! The microphone and wireless issues point to worn cables from the chassis to the display. Haswell is what keeps my credit card in my wallet.

My desktop still chugs along with a late 2009 Lynnfield based Core i5 750. I would love to replace it too but my notebook takes priority. The lack of SATA III and USB 3.0 are the only annoyances on the desktop front. It handles games rather well.
 

Itpirate

macrumors member
Jun 18, 2012
48
0
NC
People are not refreshing computers like they used to. Where I work it has gone from a 3 year refresh, to a 4, and now 5 year refresh.

We are also starting to implement VDI where it makes sense and this will really start to eat into computer sales.

The days of swapping out that old workstation every 2 to 3 years are gone.
 

Patriot24

macrumors 68030
Dec 29, 2010
2,813
805
California
The 7.5% reduction in Apple shipments isn't concerning considering the iPad and iPad Mini are likely responsible for most of that drop as well.

I'm sure they aren't all that concerned.

HP on the other hand...:eek:
 

flux73

macrumors 65816
May 29, 2009
1,019
134
If the news about an all-new Mac Pro coming out this month or next are correct, the timing couldn't be more perfect.
 

Michael Scrip

macrumors 604
Mar 4, 2011
7,922
12,470
NC
I said tablets and smartphones would start taking over, many people just need basic access to the internet for banking and shopping, which can be done on a phone.

But that being said I love my new 27" iMac! :D

Exactly. It used to be that people would buy a new PC every 3-4 years. Now tablets get thrown into the mix.

So maybe people bought a PC... then a few years later they buy a tablet... then a PC again... etc.

The PC will never be totally dead though... over 14 million PC were sold in the US last quarter... or almost 160,000 every day.

Somebody is still buying them :)
 

lolkthxbai

macrumors 65816
May 7, 2011
1,426
489
It'd be interesting to compare the same manufacturers shipments for tablets. I'm sure we'd see Apple gain more than these companies. However, I don't know if Apple would lead the market share in tablets. It's like HP and Lenovo are losing the PC industry to companies like Asus/Google and Samsung who has embraced the tablet/smartphone industry while Apple smoothly moves away from the PC industry and into the smartphone/tablet industry. Steve Jobs knew this would happen if he convinced enough people.
 

lolkthxbai

macrumors 65816
May 7, 2011
1,426
489
The 7.5% reduction in Apple shipments isn't concerning considering the iPad and iPad Mini are likely responsible for most of that drop as well.

I'm sure they aren't all that concerned.

HP on the other hand...:eek:

Not to mention the delay in refreshing their iMac lineup due to yield issues.
 

SanJacinto

macrumors regular
Nov 3, 2011
236
61
Milky Way Galaxy
Apple isn't that interested in the Macintosh since the iPad/iPhone success.
From a business perspective I understand this and I wasn't worried, because growth rates of 25% and more on Macintosh sales were in my opinion enough that Apple doesn't lose interest, but now I am not that confident.

I hope this is not the decade in which the Macintosh dies.

PS: In my opinion a company like Apple should be able to focus on all their products that means, a new Mac Pro every year and maintenance of their office suit every 2 years should be possible.
No new Mac Pro and iWorks is not a sign of limited time or limited resources, but it is a sign of lacking interest, because both are not the places where the money sits.
 

dagamer34

macrumors 65816
May 1, 2007
1,359
101
Houston, TX
I said tablets and smartphones would start taking over, many people just need basic access to the internet for banking and shopping, which can be done on a phone.

But that being said I love my new 27" iMac! :D

I wouldn't say taking over, I'd say increased length between computer purchases. Several years ago, the idea of a computer lasting 5 years was ludicrous. Today, it's a bit more palatable, especially when an SSD and 8GB RAM upgrade can make a computer act like brand new.
 

AppleScruff1

macrumors G4
Feb 10, 2011
10,026
2,949
That's because Lenovo laptops are being used more and more in the enterprise environment..

Lenovo's the only one on the list that actually shipped more units. I wouldn't be surprised if business use was the reason why.
 

Eidorian

macrumors Penryn
Mar 23, 2005
29,190
386
Indianapolis
I wouldn't say taking over, I'd say increased length between computer purchases. Several years ago, the idea of a computer lasting 5 years was ludicrous. Today, it's a bit more palatable, especially when an SSD and 8GB RAM upgrade can make a computer act like brand new.
My desktop is still around due to a SSD and video card upgrades.
 

cppguy

macrumors 6502a
Apr 6, 2009
600
907
SF Bay Area, California
A tablet is nice for reading in the bed or on the couch, but for working all day every day... you gotta be kidding me. How can you give up your 27" display, a physical keyboard and a proper mouse? That said, I'm a hardcore developer working with PDF, DOC, images, while doing photography as a hobby. I don't see myself giving up real computers, unless some sort of a direct brain interface is developed.

What happens is that for basic computer use a yearly upgrade is not necessary. Even I upgrade every 3 years or so, even though I'm running 10 virtual machines and shoot 36 megapixel images. The average person doesn't have to upgrade at all anymore. Unless they're still running Windows XP, which slows down completely after 2 years of use.
 

HenryDJP

Suspended
Nov 25, 2012
5,084
843
United States
Apple isn't that interested in the Macintosh since the iPad/iPhone success.
From a business perspective I understand this and I wasn't worried, because growth rates of 25% and more on Macintosh sales were in my opinion enough that Apple doesn't lose interest, but now I am not that confident.

I hope this is not the decade in which the Macintosh dies.

PS: In my opinion a company like Apple should be able to focus on all their products that means, a new Mac Pro every year and maintenance of their office suit every 2 years should be possible.
No new Mac Pro and iWorks is not a sign of limited time or limited resources, but it is a sign of lacking interest, because both are not the places where the money sits.

Problem with your post is that it's purely for selfish reasons. I don't personally see Apple shying away from the Macintosh, I haven't seen one iota of this as of yet. Not focusing heavily on certain products very often such as the Mac Pro isn't indicative of this. They certainly put forth quite a bit of effort in the iMac, Macbooks and OS X. The Office suite only needs refreshing every 4 years as Microsoft does. Portable electronics such as the iPhone and iPad are constantly "one-uped" from competitors whereas the computers are generally not so they have to appear to be putting forth more efforts on what the people want.
But think about it from a business standpoint, if you headed off this publicly traded company you would do the same as you claim them to be doing. Put forth much efforts towards what sells, because sales are the bottom line, not serving the niche customers.
 
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