Apple Shipped Fewer Macs in Q4 2019, despite PC Market Growth

BY Asif Shaik

Published 14 Jan 2020

Apple iMac

The two popular market research firms, Gartner and IDC, have released their worldwide PC shipment figures. And the reports from both the agencies show that Apple has lost a significant chunk of market share in the segment.

According to Gartner’s figures, Apple has shipped 5.26 million PCs in Q4 2019 as opposed to 5.42 million units in the fourth quarter of 2018. The firm places Apple in the fourth place in Q4 2019 global PC shipments’ chart with a market share of 7.5%, down from 7.9% in the same quarter for 2018.

Gartner's worldwide PC shipment report for Q4 2019

Coming to IDC’s figures, it reports even lower shipments of Mac devices. The agency claims that the brand has shipped only 4.72 million units in Q4 2019 with a market share of 6.6%, a significant downfall from 4.98 million shipments and a 7.3% market share in Q4 2018. Apple is at 4th place here as well.

IDC's worldwide PC shipment report for Q4 2019

What is surprising is that Apple has shipped fewer Macs in Q4 2019 than it did in Q4 2018, even though the PC market has grown noticeably in Q4 2019 compared to the same quarter in 2018. Gartner rates year-over-year growth at 2.3%, and according to IDC, the growth rate stands at 4.8%.

Neither firm has detailed what might have been the reason behind the decreasing popularity of Apple’s Mac devices. In our opinion, the decrease in sales could be because, in 2019, all MacBooks were flawed with a nasty keyboard issue.

Anyway, leading the worldwide PC shipments chart of both the agencies is Lenovo. According to Gartner, it has shipped 17.39 million PCs in Q4 2019, with an impressive market share of 24.8%. Even IDC reports the same market share for Lenovo, but according to it, the brand shipped 17.83 million PCs.

Our Take:

While Apple’s PC market shrank in 2019, we expect the sales to grow significantly in 2020, as the brand has recently launched the MacBook Pro 16-inch and Mac Pro, both of which are receiving excellent customer feedback, and are expected to sell in high numbers.