Research firm Gartner today released its preliminary personal computer shipment data for the first quarter of 2012, offering up a picture of market performance during the quarter. While Apple experienced only small year-over-year unit growth of over 3.8% and was beaten among top 5 vendors by HP's 6.6% growth, the company did once again outperform the overall industry and its 3.5% decline.
Gartner's Preliminary U.S. PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 1Q12 (Thousands of Units)
Apple's share of the U.S. market registered at 10.6% and has dipped for two straight quarters, dropping from 12.9% in the third quarter of 2011 and 11.6% in the fourth quarter. The weakness in Apple's Mac sales has primarily been attributed to a lack of hardware updates as the company awaits the launch of Intel's Ivy Bridge chips. Still, Apple's 10.6% share during the quarter topped its 9.8% share from the first quarter of 2011.
Apple's U.S. Market Share Trend: 1Q06-1Q12 (Gartner)
As usual, Gartner did not cover Apple's worldwide market share for the quarter, as the company does not rank among the top five vendors on a worldwide basis. PC shipments experienced slow 1.9% year-over-year on a worldwide basis, with strong growth from Lenovo and Asus keeping the industry in positive territory.
Thursday September 17, 2026 4:17 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
In iOS 27, available now, CarPlay gets its biggest update in years, but some features depend on what type of car you have rather than your iPhone model. Some of the biggest additions won't do anything in the vast majority of vehicles on the road today. Here's how the new features pan out.
Works in Any CarPlay Vehicle
Custom widgets: In iOS 27, CarPlay is no longer limited to Apple's handful ...
Wednesday September 16, 2026 8:53 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
The new Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 have hardware changes that allow for faster charging, but you will need to use the new version of the Apple Watch Magnetic Fast Charger included in the box in order to achieve this boost. If you need extra ones for your own charging stands or travel or so forth, Apple released the new version of the charger on its online store last week, with...
Wednesday September 16, 2026 1:32 pm PDT by Juli Clover
The iOS 27.2 beta that Apple released today adds a feature that reminds you it's your anniversary when you call someone, as long as you've added the date in the Contacts app.
On the date of your anniversary, when you go to call the person, you'll see a reminder that it's an important day so you don't forget to say something. The anniversary alert uses Call Context, a feature Apple added in...
Someone PLEASE give Gartner a copy of Keynote. I'm tired of seeing the same fugly table.
Also, who are these people who purchase HP? It took just one phone call to their customer service center in India for me to realize just how awful they are. :(
HP is the Honda civic while Apple is the Benz. They both get the job done but its much cooler doing it on an Apple. :cool:
BTW Dell > HP IMO
Stop with the silly car analogies. They simply do not work. You can find more powerful HP computer (compared to Apple) in every computer category. Who is the Benz now?