Apple takes big bite from shrinking PC market

Lenovo, HP and Dell all lose marketshare as cooling demand and uneven supply chain fuel 15 per cent fall in total global PC shipments, says IDC

Apple's share of the global PC market has risen sharply as the fruit-based vendor bucked a wider trend of falling shipments.

According to data from IDC, the Cupertino-based vendor saw its marketshare hit 13.5 per cent in Q3, compared with just 8.2 per cent a year earlier.

It was the only top-five vendor to register a unit shipment increase as total global shipments shrank 15 per cent to 74.3 million units.

IDC blamed the contraction on "cooling demand and uneven supply", but stressed that shipment volumes remain "well above pre-pandemic levels".

Market leader Lenovo's share fell slightly from 23.1 to 22.7 per cent as its shipments sagged from 20.1m to 16.9m.

HP and Dell, meanwhile, lost more than three and four percentage points of marketshare, respectively, as their shipments hit 12.7m and 12m.

Apple's shipments rose from 7.2m to 10.1m, with ASUS rounding out the top five with 5.5m shipments.

"Consumer demand has remained muted though promotional activity from the likes of Apple and other players has helped soften the fall and reduce channel inventory by a couple weeks across the board," said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC's Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers.

"Supply has also reacted to the new lows by reducing orders with Apple being the only exception as their third quarter supply increased to make up for lost orders stemming from the lockdowns in China during the second quarter."