PC shipments were down 4.5 percent worldwide in the second quarter to 62.4 million units, according to a new report out from analyst firm IDC on Tuesday. Apple’s share of the PC market was 7.1 percent, down from a 7.4 percent share in Q2 2015. IDC blamed Apple’s downturn on an increasingly competitive market and consumers waiting for the company refresh its PC lineup.
Apple, with worldwide Q2 shipments of 4.4 million units, is now the fifth largest-PC vendor, ASUS took fourth place with 4.5 million shipments. Prior to this downturn, Apple managed to buck the trend, frequently posting gains in worldwide and U.S.-based PC market share.
Apple could attribute its the downturn to fans waiting for new MacBook Pros, rumored to ship in late 2016. The new Macs reportedly have Touch ID, an OLED touch bar and a thinner design.
"The PC market continues to struggle as we wait for replacements to accelerate, along with some return of spending from phones, tablets, and other IT," Loren Loverde, IDC vice president of Worldwide PC Trackers & Forecasting, said in a press release. "Our long-term outlook remains cautions. However, the strong results in the U.S. offer a glimpse of what the market could look like with pockets of growth and a stronger overall environment. It's not dramatic growth, but it could push the market into positive territory slightly ahead of our forecast for 2018."
Competing research firm Gartner filed similar numbers for Apple on Tuesday, reporting that the Cupertino-based company’s global market share held at 7.1 percent, but shipments fell by 4.9 percent. Gartner’s numbers show a 9.3 percent decline in shipments year-over-over for Apple, down from 2.06 million to 1.8 million. Per Gartner, Apple’s U.S. market share dropped from 13.8 percent to 12.3 percent.
By: Gina Hall (Silicon Valley Business Journal).
Photo: Notey.
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