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Apple Continues Seeing Steady Mac Sales Growth Even as U.S. PC Shipments Decline

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Even amid a decline in U.S. PC shipments, Apple continues to see steady shipment growth, according to new PC shipping estimates from Gartner. Apple shipped nearly 1.7 million PCs in 1Q15, up from 1.5 million in 1Q14, marking an 8.9 percent increase. Overall PC growth in the United States in 1Q15 was down 1.3 percent compared to 1Q14, with Dell and other smaller manufacturers seeing a decline in shipments. Gartner estimated total PC shipments in the U.S. during 1Q15 at 13.9 million, down from 14 million last year.

During the quarter, Apple captured 12 percent of the market, up from 10.9 percent in the year ago quarter. Apple is positioned as the third largest PC vendor in the United States, and continues to trail both HP and Dell when it comes to market share.

gartner_1Q15_us.jpg
Gartner's Preliminary U.S. PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 1Q15 (Thousands of Units)​

HP shipped 3.6 million PCs during 1Q15, garnering it 26.1 percent of the market. Dell shipped 3.2 million for 23.2 percent of the market, and Lenovo came in after Apple with 1.7 million shipments for 11.8 percent of the market. ASUS, the fifth largest vendor in the U.S., sold just under a million PCs for 7.2 percent of the market.

gartner_1Q15_us_trend.jpg
Apple's U.S. Market Share Trend: 1Q06-1Q15 (Gartner)​
​
IDC also released its shipment estimates today, and as is typical, its numbers are different than Gartner's numbers, in part because Gartner counts Windows-based tablets as personal computers, while IDC does not. According to IDC, overall PC shipments in the United States for 1Q15 were at 14 million, with Apple responsible for shipping 1.6 million PCs during the quarter, up from 1.5 million in 1Q14. IDC estimates Apple saw 1.7 percent growth with 10.9 percent market share.

IDC also ranks HP and Dell as the top two vendors in the United States, but its estimates place Lenovo as the third largest vendor with Apple coming in fourth and Toshiba coming in fifth.

As for worldwide shipments, Apple does not rank as one of the top five vendors so its worldwide shipments are not broken down in IDC and Gartner PC shipping estimates. Total worldwide PC shipments for 1Q15 were at 71.7 million according to Gartner, a decline of 5.2 percent compared to the year ago quarter, while IDC estimates put total worldwide shipments at 68.5 million, a decline of 6.7 percent.

It is important to note that data from Gartner and IDC is preliminary and that the numbers can shift somewhat, sometimes dramatically. Last year, for example, Gartner predicted Apple shipments at 1.521 million, later revising the number to 1.534 million. IDC predicted Apple shipments of 1.471 PCs, while the final number was 1.559 million.

Article Link: Apple Continues Seeing Steady Mac Sales Growth Even as U.S. PC Shipments Decline
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2015/04/09/apple-mac-shipments-estimates-1q15/
with the price of the new Macbook, i doubt they will make a significant increase in the next quarter.
 
Looks like HP, Lenovo, and ASUS sales also grew, in addition to Apple. Looks to me more like the big brands experienced growth at the expense of smaller brands.
 
I'd like to see the sales numbers for people who buy their own computers. It's easy for PCs to be on top when most of that is probably companies just robotically keeping the status quo. I'd like to see how the trend of people bucking the system by buying the computer they actually want to use reflects on Macs.
 
Cuban Missles said:
with the price of the new Macbook, i doubt they will make a significant increase in the next quarter.
Click to expand...

dunno. the number of people who don't ever use ports and just want a retina 'MacPad Air' as a second (primary?) laptop seem like a lot. rather than upgrading their perfectly working iPad 2/3/4/airs, it's a viable option for people with aging Mbs from 2007-10. it's got retina, ffs. try and convince an accountant to get an rMBP that's 33% heavier and doesn't come in gold that "You need this for the ports, whether you actually use any or not." no matter how many times people say it, it never gets through to anyone: it's not a laptop for people who do much intensive work (or play) on laptops. at all. there is no 'sacrifice' being made buying one over a retina pro, because tons of people don't have a steam account or even run photoshop. they don't even back up their files, they use iCloud or come begging one of us to restore their excel spreadsheets when they get a system failure, like once every 3 years. how do people ignore this vast demographic? the new macbook, if not this year then next year, will fit like a glove for millions of people.
 
Is this consumer or consumer plus enterprise?

I'm not from the US (as you can see), but I'm guessing that top spot would not belong to HP if it were not for enterprise clients.

This is not a go Apple post. I'm truly curious.
 
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The slowest growth out of the major manufacturers and worldwide sales down 6% and we can still pick out something positive.
 
Cuban Missles said:
with the price of the new Macbook, i doubt they will make a significant increase in the next quarter.
Click to expand...

Or it could cause a surge in people who realise they want a small, light weight notebook but don't want the shocking weakness of the new MacBook so buy a MacBook Air thus causing an increase in sales.
 
JarScott said:
Or it could cause a surge in people who realise they want a small, light weight notebook but don't want the shocking weakness of the new MacBook so buy a MacBook Air thus causing an increase in sales.
Click to expand...

I hope Cook is not iPoding the Mac.
 
Cuban Missles said:
with the price of the new Macbook, i doubt they will make a significant increase in the next quarter.
Click to expand...

True... but I don't think Apple expects it to either. It's a niche machine for a particular user. It won't be a high-volume seller.

I still think it's quite remarkable that Apple is able to get 12% of the US computer market even though their machines average over $1000.

HP may sell twice as many units... but that includes $199 Chromebooks and $249 Windows laptops.
 
Lenovo is on the verge of overtaking Apple. 0.8M shy last year. 0.2M this year. If they increase like that again YoY, they'll end up slightly ahead of Apple.
 
teslo said:
dunno. the number of people who don't ever use ports and just want a retina 'MacPad Air' as a second (primary?) laptop seem like a lot. rather than upgrading their perfectly working iPad 2/3/4/airs, it's a viable option for people with aging Mbs from 2007-10. it's got retina, ffs. try and convince an accountant to get an rMBP that's 33% heavier and doesn't come in gold that "You need this for the ports, whether you actually use any or not." no matter how many times people say it, it never gets through to anyone: it's not a laptop for people who do much intensive work (or play) on laptops. at all. there is no 'sacrifice' being made buying one over a retina pro, because tons of people don't have a steam account or even run photoshop. they don't even back up their files, they use iCloud or come begging one of us to restore their excel spreadsheets when they get a system failure, like once every 3 years. how do people ignore this vast demographic? the new macbook, if not this year then next year, will fit like a glove for millions of people.
Click to expand...

You are going all in with this opinion.:D You seem to find it hard that others don't see things the same way as you. To me, the MB seems like a niche product at best. Aimed squarely at the gotta have the latest, thinnest crowd. This large demographic you see, yeah, it doesn't exist. You also say this isn't for someone who has an intensive work/play load. I would agree 100%. Thing is, most of the people who just want a quality functional laptop can get one that doesn't carry that heavy premium. Outside of the hi res screen, there's nothing really compelling about this machine. Just like the original Air was not an $1800 laptop, this MB is not a $1300 laptop. Price it for what it is, it might be more appealing.

To me, MBA's are a better value, and if someone is not locked into OSX, there are plenty of laptops that offer a better bang for the buck; hi res screen included.

I'm not sure where you see these millions of customers. Apple will probably sell between 6-7 million computers this year. I reckon the vast majority will be iMacs, MBAs, and MBP's. The MB will appeal to a smaller crowd; people like you. Once the price meets the performance, it may appeal to an even larger group.
 
Very happy with Thinkpad Helix2 purchase. Next purchase will likely be Surface Pro 4 since rMacbook turned out to be a dud.
 
Unit share doesn't matter....

I'm not a brainwashed Apple fan but share of revenue, or better yet, share of profit is the real indicator of how successful a company is. HP and Dell are both trying some way to make a profit and are expanding into services and non-core markets to try to subsidize their failing PC business'. They just can't seem to make a reasonable profit margin on the products so they try to "make it up in volume."

The last numbers I remember seeing showed Apple with a 5% market share with 45% of total market profits in 2012. I can only think that with the continued improvement in COGS and market share Apple must have much more than 50% of the total PC profits now in a declining market. I just wonder how Apple is going to go after the enterprise market without eroding their gross margin.
 
Not sure how this year will go. Their MacBook line is pretty tired looking right now, unless you want the new netbook.
 
I don't understand how hp consistently ranks numero uno when their laptops are SO bad. I have one for work and I've had three hard drives in one year. What's really perplexing is how Dell went down almost the exact same amount when they are soo much better (than hp) imo.
 
Metric

I just saw a Windows Tablet for sale at $80 here in the US. Any metric that counts that a Unit and a Mac Pro as a unit seems like a useless metric. I know these are widely reported numbers. But I'm not sure what the point is. In fact I think these reports are misleading the market.

In response to an above poster, I don't know anyone who spends their own money to buy a non-Mac PC. Literally everyone I know uses a Mac at home. PCs are bought for those same folks by work. Period. I know people buy PCs because I see them for sale at Best Buy. But I bet even those stores rely a bunch on corporate sales, even if it is the IT guy using the corporate card. These metrics confuse and distort a reality of a huge shift in PC usage that has happened over the last decade.
 
Time Less said:
Apple is a beast!
Click to expand...

Our corporation (100,000 +) employees only have three approved PC's...

Lenovo, Dell and Apple

Nice to see Apple ranking third in 1st Quarter sales and YoY and easily being the most expensive. I think Apple needs more than that overpriced MacBook if they want to stay up there in the top three. IMO
 
b0nd18t said:
Not sure how this year will go. Their MacBook line is pretty tired looking right now, unless you want the new netbook.
Click to expand...

Uhmm, the 13 inch retina MacBook Pro is still probably the laptop to buy. A guy at work just got one last week fully loaded. He loves it. It doesn't seem tired at all.
 
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