Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing

Gartner: Mac shipments actually increased by 5 percent last holiday season

Mariella Moon
By
Image used with permission by copyright holder

A report by research firm IDC revealed a decline in PC sales in the U.S. market during the 2012 holidays. Compared to 2011’s shipment numbers for the same period, 2012 saw a 6.4 percent decline. IDC also released a list of PC manufacturers and their sales estimates, including Apple, which reportedly sold 3,000 Mac units less than its sales number for the last quarter of 2011. Many attributed Apple’s supposedly slow sales to the new iMac’s availability issues. 

However, another report by competing research firm Gartner tells a completely different story. 

Recommended Videos

According to Gartner, Mac shipments in the U.S. for the last quarter of 2012 didn’t decline at all. In fact, sales were even up by 5.4 percent, which means Apple owned 12.3 percent of the market last year as opposed to 11.4 percent the year before. Gartner’s numbers indicate that Apple shipped roughly 2.1 million Macs last holiday season, which is up from 2 million during 2011’s holiday season. While Gartner and IDC disagree on Apple’s success in the PC business, they agree that, as a whole, the PC market in the U.S. shrunk during the last part of 2012 for the first time in five years. The decline is likely due to the increasingly growing mobile world. 

Related

Gartner listed the top five PC makers for 2012. HP, which also grabbed the top spot in IDC’s list, led with 26.6 percent share (4.7 million computers) of the U.S. market. Next comes Dell with a share of 19.2 percent (3.4 million PCs), followed by Apple, and then Lenovo with an 8.4 percent share (1.4 million PCs) of the market. Acer tops things off in fifth place with a 7.9 percent share –  a far cry from its 21.6 percent market share for 2011. 

It’ll be interesting to see how 2013’s smartphone and tablet releases affect PC sales this November and December.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Mariella Moon
Mariella Moon
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Mariella loves working on both helpful and awe-inspiring science and technology stories. When she's not at her desk writing…
How to connect a MacBook to a TV
MacBook on a chair with the TV app on the screen.

Apple’s MacBooks are excellent content-consumption machines, but even the roomiest 16-inch MacBook Pro can’t compare to viewing your favorite shows on a large TV. Whether you’re watching a movie or playing one of the best Mac games, it’s much better to enjoy it on a spacious TV than on a constrained MacBook display.

Read more
The biggest threat to the MacBook this year might come from Apple itself
The MacBook Air on a white table.

MacBooks have held a dominant position in the laptop world for the past few years. Though there have been meaningful rivals from the Windows side of the aisle, the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro still feel like they hold an unshakeable lead at the moment.

But according to the latest reports, the most serious challenger to the MacBook's reign won't come from Windows -- it'll come from within Apple in the form of some very advanced new iPads.
What's a computer?

Read more
How to keep your MacBook from sleeping
The M3 MacBook Air in front of a window.

Your MacBook is your go-to powerhouse for all things computing. Web browsing, graphic design, video editing, music production, you name it, the MacBook can do it. But like any good laptop, your MacBook has a number of battery-saving features built in and enabled by default. One of these functions is the computer’s sleep mode, which optimizes battery life by decreasing power usage.

Read more