Mac Shipments Were Flat at the End of 2025 as Rival PC Brands Surged

[MacRumors]

Apple's Mac business ended 2025 with flat year-over-year shipments in the holiday quarter despite a broader rebound in the global PC market, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC).

The findings suggest that global PC shipments rose 9.6% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2025 to 76.4 million units, exceeding expectations as brands accelerated purchases ahead of anticipated supply constraints and component price increases. Within that total, Apple shipped 7.1 million Macs during the quarter, which is essentially unchanged from the same period a year earlier, resulting in a decline in quarterly market share even as the overall market expanded.

Apple ranked fourth globally behind Lenovo, HP, and Dell, all of which posted double-digit shipment growth. Lenovo shipped 19.3 million units in the fourth quarter of 2025, up 14.4% year over year, while HP shipped 15.4 million units, up 12.1%. Dell recorded the fastest growth among the top three at 18.2%, with 11.7 million units shipped.

IDC attributed the stronger-than-expected fourth quarter to factors including the end of support for Windows 10, tariff-related uncertainty earlier in the year, and growing concern over tightening memory supply. These dynamics encouraged many vendors to pull forward inventory purchases into late 2025, amplifying the usual holiday period seasonal uplift.

For the full year, Apple's performance was more robust. IDC estimates that Apple shipped 25.6 million Macs in 2025, up from 23.0 million units in 2024, representing year-over-year growth of 11.1%. That increase outpaced the overall PC market, which grew 8.1% to 284.7 million units globally. Apple's annual market share rose to 9.0% from 8.7% the year before, even as its fourth-quarter share fell to 9.3% from 10.2% in the fourth quarter of 2024 due to faster growth by major Windows brands.

Article Link: Mac Shipments Were Flat at the End of 2025 as Rival PC Brands Surged

 

[abatabia]

The M chips are that good and don’t need upgrades like they used to. My M1 mini and Air are still amazing and now my longest serving Mac’s ever. They just last longer.

 

[SilmarilFinder]

I suspect this is a direct result of the Windows 11 upgrade push, as most of the corporate world was forced to update their PCs.

 

[SilentSpecter]

Well, one don't change Macs every two years. My husband still have a MacBook Pro 13 from 2019. And at work I have a MacBook Pro with an M3 Pro. Is working so well that I don't see having it changed in the next three to four years, at least.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

There is little reason to upgrade an M-series Macs unless you have a specific workflow.

I suspect this is a direct result of the Windows 11 upgrade push, as most of the corporate world was forced to update their PCs.

It definitely pushed it, but enterprise windows 10 is still supported with a service contract. My company hasn't upgraded a single machine to windows 11, as far as I know. I don't work in IT, so no clue what their future plans are.

 

[LeeW]

People may not be upgrading as often as the M devices are better and last longer, but, that’s also a problem for Apple.

 

[Leon Ze Professional]

I have a 15 inch M2 Macbook Air and it feels like a comfortable glove that just fits perfectly for my needs. However, if I was to nit pick, the only area i feel a little dated are the Graphics cores when compared to the M5 chip.

 

[ridgero]

For the first time in decades, Apple's RAM prices seem to be in line with the market, yet fewer people are buying Macs?

 

[maflynn]

So much for the talk of people flocking to Macs over windows 10

 

[ELman]

People may not be upgrading as often as the M devices are better and last longer, but, that’s also a problem for Apple.

They make up for it selling Apple Care.

 

[MacATDBB]

I'm waiting for the M5 pro and max chips to become available as I suspect are many media professionals.

 

[Bustycat]

For the first time in decades, Apple's RAM prices seem to be in line with the market, yet fewer people are buying Macs?

Oh some people are still expecting that Apple won't increase the prices this year.

 

[chmania]

The findings suggest that global PC shipments rose 9.6% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2025 to 76.4 million units, exceeding expectations as brands accelerated purchases ahead of anticipated supply constraints and component price increases. Within that total, Apple shipped 7.1 million Macs during the quarter,

This means that Apple shipped just ~9.3% of "personal" computers in the fourth quarter; in other words, Windows is a stronger market brand that enables many other companies to maintain their bottom line.

 

[Solarflares]

So much for the talk of people flocking to Macs over windows 10

Don’t forget that all of Europe and the UK, were given a year’s extension of Win 10 security updates.

 

[ChrisMac47]

My M1 iMac does not feel like it needs upgrading. Computers have matured. Apple's extortionate pricing on memory and SSD doesn't encourage upgrading either!

 

[SPUY767]

I'm waiting for the M5 pro and max chips to become available as I suspect are many media professionals.

This. I'm waiting for an M5 Max MacBook Pro before I upgrade. My M1 Max is 4 years old and still crushing it.

 

[Hajj.david]

There is little reason to upgrade an M-series Macs unless you have a specific workflow.



It definitely pushed it, but enterprise windows 10 is still supported with a service contract. My company hasn't upgraded a single machine to windows 11, as far as I know. I don't work in IT, so no clue what their future plans are.

Most companies would rather upgrade then pay the expensive server contract that will still eventually force them to upgrade anyways

 

[krspkbl]

I had a MacBook Air 15" which was a great laptop.

But I want a 27-32" iMac. My only real option right now is to buy a Mac Studio and i still need to bring my own monitor/keyboard etc.

And then Mac is only really good for the average user or photo/video editor. It sucks at gaming and AI work.

The recent RAM price increase does nothing really. It just brings PCs on par with the stupid prices Apple has been charging for years. I'd still pick a PC any day over Mac. You have much more freedom. Yes Microsoft bla bla bla but if you buy a PC you don't NEED to install Windows. Linux is actually a better choice for gaming over Mac now lol.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Most companies would rather upgrade then pay the expensive server contract that will still eventually force them to upgrade anyways

Apparently this was cheaper, or so I was told..

 

[macbookj0e]

I'm waiting for the M5 pro and max chips to become available as I suspect are many media professionals.

Yeah I’m sure them not releasing the m5 pro and max last year like usual didn’t help their cause.

 

[Abydos]

as an outlier, I would venture that this a sign of a mature (or maturing) market, then again this is merely a guess

 

[ItsASpider]

Don’t forget that all of Europe and the UK, were given a year’s extension of Win 10 security updates.

...if you look at the IDC data then you see that that isn't at all a factor in this data.

Given the factors at play right now (the memory shortage, etc) it is arguable very concerning to Apple that they didn't experience an increase in sales.

 

[hoodlum90]

I'm waiting for the M5 pro and max chips to become available as I suspect are many media professionals.

I am doing the same. I am also interested to see if the next Adobe Lightroom update this spring starts using the GPU Neural Accelerators in the M5 and what the performance gains are.

Adobe did start using the Neural Engine a couple years ago with significant performance improvement for the Denoise function, but then had to remove that as the Neural Engine was not accurate enough compared to just having the GPU do Denoise as a slower speed. I am hoping that the GPU Neural Accelerators have resolved this.

 

[Solarflares]

...if you look at the IDC data then you see that that isn't at all a factor in this data.

Given the factors at play right now (the memory shortage, etc) it is arguable very concerning to Apple that they didn't experience an increase in sales.

Don’t be silly. I simply pointed out that millions of Win 10 users in Europe, suddenly were given a year’s grace. Naturally this would be a factor when considering MaFlynn’s post.

 

[johnrlaporta]

Whenever the 16” M5 MBP shows up, I’ll bet upgrading from my 2016 MBP. Just getting too long in the tooth and many things are unsupported (like Google Chrome as of this AM). It still works great. I’ll likely keep the new one for a decade. Part of it is that they are so well built. Part of it is there is no longer any compelling reason to upgrade outside of obsolescence.