Apple Slips to Fourth in Worldwide PC Sales With iPad Included

081408 canalys 1q2011 pc share

Research firm Canalys today reported its data for worldwide first quarter PC shipments, pegging Apple in fourth place with 9.5% of the market when tablets such as the iPad are included in the calculation. Apple slipped one notch from its third-place finish in the fourth quarter of 2010 as the company shipped fewer-than-expected iPads to begin the year as it cleared existing inventory of the first-generation models and sought to ramp up production on second-generation models.

With the iPad being added to the mix, Canalys calculates Apple's year-over-year growth for the quarter at nearly 188%, but down 31% from the previous quarter.

Apple continued with its strategy to dominate the pad market, with the iPad or iPad 2 available in 59 markets by the end of Q1. A combination of strong Q4 sales and the announcement of the iPad 2's launch across major markets at the end of March contributed to Apple's iPad shipments being down 31% sequentially. The full impact of the iPad 2 launch will not register until subsequent quarters, as Apple gets the product into the hands of consumers. While pad sales continued to lift Apple's results, PC vendors with a focus on the consumer netbook and notebook market, such as Acer and Asus, did not fare so well.

Canalys reports that a total of 6.4 million "pad" devices were shipped during the quarter, with Apple accounting for 74% of the total.

Related Roundup: iPad
Buyer's Guide: iPad (Neutral)
Related Forum: iPad

Popular Stories

Apple Shopping Event 2025

Apple Announces 2025 Black Friday Event, Here's What You Can Get

Thursday November 20, 2025 6:28 am PST by
Apple's annual four-day Black Friday through Cyber Monday shopping event is returning on Friday, November 28 through Monday, December 1 in many countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Thailand, and others. During the shopping event, customers can get an Apple gift card with...
iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Adds These New Features to Your iPhone

Thursday November 20, 2025 10:50 am PST by
iOS 26.2 is currently in beta testing. The upcoming update includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, including a new Liquid Glass slider for the Lock Screen's clock, offline lyrics for Apple Music, and more. In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 26.2 will be released to all users in December, but it did not provide a specific release date. Keep reading...
hikawa phone grip stand apple%402x

Apple Launches Second Limited-Edition iPhone Accessory in a Month

Friday November 21, 2025 3:53 am PST by
Apple has begun selling the Hikawa Phone Grip and Stand, a new limited-edition iPhone accessory designed with accessibility in mind. Designed by LA-based Bailey Hikawa to celebrate the 40th anniversary of accessibility at Apple, the grip uses magnets to securely snap onto any iPhone with MagSafe. Apple says it can be removed with ease, and doubles as a stand with two different viewing...
iPhone 17 Pro Cosmic Orange

10 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 18 Pro

Wednesday November 19, 2025 4:00 am PST by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth...
ipad black friday 2025

The Best Early Black Friday iPad Deals

Thursday November 20, 2025 10:20 am PST by
Black Friday is just over a week away, and iPad deals have finally started to flood in at retailers like Amazon and Best Buy. Below we're tracking discounts on every current generation iPad, including lowest-ever prices on M3 iPad Air and M5 iPad Pro, plus steep markdowns on iPad and iPad mini. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a ...
ipad mini 7 feature red and blue

iPad Mini 8: Four Major New Features to Expect

Wednesday November 19, 2025 7:50 am PST by
Apple's eighth-generation iPad mini is highly likely to arrive next year, offering a significant refresh of the device with at least four major new features. OLED Display The next-generation version of the iPad mini could feature an OLED display, as part of Apple's plan to expand the display technology across many more of its devices. Apple's first OLED device was the Apple Watch in 2015, ...
watchos 26 workout app

Apple Watch Users Claim Workout App Is Now Worse in Every Way

Thursday November 20, 2025 7:01 am PST by
Apple Watch owners have been voicing their frustration online over changes to the Workout app that Apple introduced in watchOS 26, with many finding the redesigned interface makes starting exercises difficult and exasperating. When Apple launched watchOS 26 in September, the Workout app went from large, easily tapped workout tiles to a scrolling, corner-button interface. Instead of tapping a ...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Foldable iPhone to Debut These Two Breakthrough Features

Wednesday November 19, 2025 7:26 am PST by
Apple's first foldable iPhone is expected to launch alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models in fall 2026, and it's shaping up to include two standout features that could set it apart from the competition. The book-style foldable will reportedly feature an industry-first 24-megapixel under-display camera built into the inner display, according to a recent JP Morgan equity research report. That...
maxresdefault

The MacRumors Show: iPhone 18 Pro Looks Like a Huge Upgrade

Friday November 21, 2025 9:10 am PST by
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we talk through all of the new features and improvements expected to come to next year's iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max models. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos Apple's next-generation iPhones are less than ten months away and we already have a good idea about what to expect based on corroborated leaks, rumors,...

Top Rated Comments

iOS v Android Avatar
190 months ago
Make up your mind what you want to count iPads as. Damn is it a mobile device a computer. Someone give them a ****ing category already.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NebulaClash Avatar
190 months ago
The iPod was not a fad by any sense of the word. Once you reach a decade of popularity, it's not a fad. It's like calling land line phones a fad because there was a time when they didn't exist, then they did exist and were popular, and now they are fading due to cell phones. Ridiculous.

A fad is something that comes and goes quickly with a spike in popularity at its peak, and then people look back and wonder why they did it. That isn't the case with the iPod which still sells in the millions.

Amazing to see how people will resort to anything to make Apple look less popular than they are.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TimUSCA Avatar
190 months ago
Well you have a point there. The iPod was a so-called fad too. It took 8 or 9 years for it to wear off and see fickle consumers switch to the next fad, the iPhone and iPad. The iPad-like devices may be a fad but it's likely to die out b/c a it's replaced by a next gen device. Apple is already showing it's cards in melding OS X with hints of iOS.
I disagree. The only reason people stopped buying the iPod was because it was more convenient to have a phone and iPod in a single device. Once people started buying iOS and Android devices, they no longer *needed* an iPod.

So the iPod didn't die down because it was a fad... it died down because technology has replaced it. The need for a PMP such as the iPod is still very much alive, just in a different form.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
callme Avatar
190 months ago
No surprise the iPad is just a fad and people are starting to realize how limited it is. Its frustrating on a lot of cool websites and no file system makes it very limited.

Stuck record! Same old comment, still not true.

They can sell as many as they can make, production is the limiting factor at the moment NOT lack of demand.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Andronicus Avatar
190 months ago
I dont think iPads should be included. A computer shouldn't need a computer to be usable.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iekozz Avatar
190 months ago
However the iPad is not a pc, so this report is a bit on the Apple side here.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)