Apple Tops Worldwide Mobile PC Shipments in Q2 2011 with iPad Included

Research firm DisplaySearch today released the results of its estimates of mobile PC sales for the second quarter of 2011. The study includes both traditional notebooks and tablets, and Apple was able to ride the strength of the iPad to the top of the list with 21.1% of the market on 13.6 million units shipped. Apple comfortably topped second-place HP, which came in at 15% share with 9.7 million units shipped.

displaysearch mobile rankings 2q11
The report notes that Samsung and Dell led the way in year-over-year shipment growth among notebook PCs, but that performance was overshadowed by Apple's iPad growth, which saw unit shipments more than double year-over-year.

On the tablet front, quarterly shipments of non-Apple tablets have quickly risen to 5.6 million units, although many manufacturers appear to be having difficulty translating those shipments into actual sales to customers. Overall, tablet shipments were up 70% quarter-over-quarter and 400% year-over-year.

Popular Stories

Tim Cook Rainbow

Apple Event in October? Here's What to Expect

Monday September 29, 2025 9:31 am PDT by
Apple's annual iPhone event is in the rearview mirror, but rumors suggest the company plans to release a handful of additional products before the year ends. Will there be another Apple event this October? We discuss the possibility below. Apple in October Apple's most recent October events were in 2021 and 2023. In 2022 and 2024, Apple did not host an October event. Instead, it...
Home Hub Command Center with Dome Base Feature

Apple Working on All-New Operating System

Thursday September 25, 2025 1:11 pm PDT by
Apple is developing an all-new operating system codenamed "Charismatic," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple smart home hub concept based on rumors This is likely Apple's long-rumored "homeOS" operating system. In a report last month, Gurman said both Apple's rumored smart home hub in 2026 and tabletop robot in 2027 will run the new operating system. He said the software platform ...
Apple MacBook Pro M4 hero

New MacBook Pro Nears Mass Production, But Four Bigger Upgrades Expected Next Year

Sunday September 28, 2025 2:08 pm PDT by
Apple's next MacBook Pro models will enter mass production soon, according to the latest information shared by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said he continues to believe the new MacBook Pro models will be released at some point between late 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, meaning they should be available to order by March at the latest. Apple often...
iOS 26

Apple Continues to Prepare iOS 26.0.1 With Multiple Bug Fixes Expected

Sunday September 28, 2025 1:30 pm PDT by
Apple is preparing to release iOS 26.0.1, according to a private account on X with a proven track record of sharing information about future iOS versions. The account initially said iOS 26.0.1 would have a build number of 23A350, but they now expect the update to have a build number of 23A355. This suggests that the software update will include more bug fixes or changes than initially...
iOS 26

Apple Releases iOS 26.0.1 With Fixes for Wi-Fi, Cellular, and Camera Issues on iPhone 17 Models

Monday September 29, 2025 10:12 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 26.0.1 and iPadOS 26.0.1, the first updates to the iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 operating systems that came out earlier this week. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. According to Apple's release notes for the update, iOS 26.0.1 addresses a bug that could cause aberrations in...
maxresdefault

New iPad Pro With M5 Chip Leaked in Unboxing Video

Tuesday September 30, 2025 8:39 am PDT by
An apparent unboxing video for an unannounced iPad Pro with the M5 chip was uploaded to YouTube today by Russian channel Wylsacom. The same YouTube account leaked the 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M4 chip before it was announced by Apple last year, so this is likely a legitimate leak. Based on the box shown in the video, this appears to be a 13-inch iPad Pro with an M5 chip, 256GB of...
LG UltraFine 6K Display TB5

LG UltraFine 6K (32U990A) TB5 Display: Pre-Orders Open September 30

Monday September 29, 2025 6:21 am PDT by
Pre-orders for LG's new UltraFine evo 6K display (model 32U990A) with Thunderbolt 5 support will begin on September 30, according to a major U.S. retailer listing. LG first revealed the 32-inch display at CES 2025 in January, teasing its status as the first monitor to support Thunderbolt 5. At the time, LG only provided high-level specs, but left pricing, availability, and full technical...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Iridescent 1

Samsung Confirms Plan to Make Foldable Displays for Major American Company

Monday September 29, 2025 6:54 am PDT by
Samsung Display president Lee Cheong has confirmed plans to make foldable smartphone displays for a major American company, which is widely believed to be Apple. As reported in Chosun Biz, Cheong last week told journalists in Seoul that the company is accelerating preparations for mass production of OLED displays designed for foldable smartphones to be supplied to a "North American client."...
ipad mini 7 feature blue

iPad Mini 8 Rumors: Everything We Know So Far

Monday September 29, 2025 8:55 am PDT by
Apple's eighth-generation iPad mini is likely to arrive next year, so here's what to expect. The current iPad mini came out in 2024, with the main upgrade over the previous version being the A17 Pro chip and Apple Intelligence support. The previous generation introduced a complete redesign and the A15 Bionic chip. In August, Apple mistakenly shared code that revealed key information about ...
iOS 26 Battery Glass Feature

iPhone 16 Pro Max 80% Charge Limit: One Year Later, Was It Worth It?

Wednesday September 24, 2025 3:58 pm PDT by
With the iPhone 15 series, I did an experiment and kept my iPhone's Charge Limit set at 80 percent for an entire year. It provided an interesting look at the impact of charge limits on battery longevity, so I decided to repeat it for the iPhone 16 line. Since September 2024, my iPhone 16 Pro Max has been limited to an 80 percent charge, with no cheating. As of today, my battery's maximum...

Top Rated Comments

OllyW Avatar
184 months ago
How can it be a PC if it's a Post-PC device? :confused:
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nightfly13 Avatar
184 months ago
Why not include iPods and REALLY pad the numbers..
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
0098386 Avatar
184 months ago
How can it be a PC if it's a Post-PC device? :confused:

It can be included as "a PC" when it benefits Apple's figures.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TimUSCA Avatar
184 months ago
Every report I see like this says "if the iPad is included". If you have to tack that onto every report, maybe that's a sign that it isn't and shouldn't be included.

I realize it's a grey area in the industry, but it runs the same OS and iPhone and iPod Touch. So if you're going to include the iPad, you need to include those too. The defining factor for mobile PC should be a full OS with a navigable file system. Tablets don't (and shouldn't) have these qualities. So while the iPad is a mobile device, I don't think it should be included as a "mobile PC".
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
allpar Avatar
184 months ago
Mac shipments without iPad

The report said 80% of Macs shipped were iPads. If you exclude those, you get around 2.7 million Macs. However, you then have to exclude tablets and maybe other form factors from competitors, too.

Their category is mobile personal computers, not laptops or notebooks. I think that's their rationale.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BaldiMac Avatar
184 months ago
1)iPads REQUIRE a personal computer to even turn on the very first time. Period. End of story. So how can it be considered a personal computer?!

Luckily, this specious argument goes away with iOS 5.

2)iPads are in a new market called the Tablet Market...a bit unfair to include iPads in all sorts of other "market" reports

:D Good one. A product can be compared in many different markets. For example, no one complains when laptops are compared in the PC market and separately in the mobile PC market.

3)iPads are really just large Touches and/or iPhones...whether you believe it or not...everything is identical except size and possibly 1 or 2 hardware changes since it is much larger or the inability to dial. So why not include the Touches and/or Phones in said PC Shipments?

Because the iPod touch and the iPhone don't compete with PCs. A significant number of people have been shown to choose an iPad over a netbook or other laptop. The same cannot be said for the iPod touch.

Again, this report is a market analysis, not a semantics argument.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)