Research firm Gartner today released its preliminary personal computer shipment data for the fourth quarter of 2011, offering up a picture of market performance during the quarter. With year-over-year unit growth of over 20%, Apple was the only one of the top five U.S. vendors to see an increase in shipments in an overall market that shrank by nearly 6%.
Apple's U.S. Market Share Trend: 1Q06-4Q11 (Gartner)
Apple's share dipped from 12.9% in the third quarter, which is routinely the company's strongest quarter due to a heavy presence in education. But the performance marks a distinct improvement over Apple's 9.0% share in the year-ago quarter and continues a long-term trend of increasing market share.
Gartner's Preliminary U.S. PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 4Q11 (Thousands of Units)
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 shrank 1.4% year-over-year on a worldwide basis, with strong growth from Lenovo and Asus being offset by declines from HP and Acer.
Update: IDC has also released its numbers for the fourth quarter of 2011, yielding results similar to Gartner's. As is typical, IDC pegged Apple's market share slightly lower than in Gartner's data, with IDC showing Apple with 10.92% of the U.S. market on 18% year-over-year growth.
IDC also released numbers for full-year 2011, showing Apple in third place in the U.S. market at 10.73%, up from 8.83% in 2010. Apple's full-year growth of 16.41% easily outpaced the other top-five manufacturers in an overall U.S. market that declined by nearly 5% from 2010.
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We're getting closer to the launch of the final major iOS update of the year, with Apple set to release iOS 26.2 in December. We've had three betas so far and are expecting a fourth beta or a release candidate this week, so a launch could follow as soon as next week.
Past Launch Dates
Apple's past iOS x.2 updates from the last few years have all happened right around the middle of the...
Monday December 1, 2025 3:00 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is expected to launch a new foldable iPhone next year, based on multiple rumors and credible sources. The long-awaited device has been rumored for years now, but signs increasingly suggest that 2026 could indeed be the year that Apple releases its first foldable device.
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Below, we've collated an updated set of key details that ...
Monday December 1, 2025 2:16 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple AI chief John Giannandrea is stepping down from his position and retiring in spring 2026, Apple announced today.
Giannandrea will serve as an advisor between now and 2026, with former Microsoft AI researcher Amar Subramanya set to take over as vice president of AI. Subramanya will report to Apple engineering chief Craig Federighi, and will lead Apple Foundation Models, ML research, and ...
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Monday December 1, 2025 5:00 am PST by Tim Hardwick
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Below is a breakdown of what we're expecting over the next ...
Tuesday December 2, 2025 9:44 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple's iPhone 17 lineup is selling well enough that Apple is on track to ship more than 247.4 million total iPhones in 2025, according to a new report from IDC.
Total 2025 shipments are forecast to grow 6.1 percent year over year due to iPhone 17 demand and increased sales in China, a major market for Apple.
Overall worldwide smartphone shipments across Android and iOS are forecast to...
Cyber Week is here, and you can find popular Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and more at all-time low prices. In this article, the majority of the discounts will be found on Amazon.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
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Monday December 1, 2025 8:40 am PST by Joe Rossignol
The calendar has turned to December, and the quieter year-end holiday season is now upon us. Nevertheless, we can still expect a few things from Apple this month.
Apple previously announced that iOS 26.2 will be released to the general public in December, and we can expect corresponding updates to be released as well, including iPadOS 26.2, macOS 26.2, watchOS 26.2, tvOS 26.2, and visionOS...
The updated specs of the M5 iPad Pro may point toward a major new feature for Apple's next-generation Studio Display expected in early 2026.
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With year-over-year unit growth of over 20%, Apple was the only one of the top five U.S. vendors to see an increase in shipments in an overall market that shrank by nearly 6%.
I guess that helps explain why CES 2012 looks an awful lot like MacWorld 2008........
The price of the Macbook pro is beyond a joke now.
having owned 2 15" pros im seriously thinking of moving away as upgrading is way to expensive.
When a laptop costs over £2000 with a half assed GPU inside and upgrades which have to be bought with blood diamonds your market share is going to drop.
Time apple started charging average prices for average spec laptops or actually spec them up to what they are trying to charge.
Goes to show that some people only see what supports their own opinion. :)
Apple is the only one of the top 5 vendors to NOT be going backwards year over year.
Just because it has a black border around the screen and black keys doesn't make it an exact copy...
Edit: Wow at all the people who disliked this post and think Apple was the first with that design...
Honestly, because they try to make it as close as possible with out getting slammed with some lawsuit.
I will say this again and again, every company copies ideas from one another. Humans do it do other humans and it's pretty clear that's the way things have been and the way things are.
Apple has stolen ideas (Android notifications for one) and I do acknowledge that. But I don't believe they do it as much or as direct (physical designs) as companies are doing it to Apple today.
Companies usually try to mimic Apple's design (both software and hardware) but often just usually make a worse product. When apple does steal an idea (usually never design) they tend to polish and perfect the idea that the original company "never" could have done.
Is Apple the only company that innovates or comes up with original ideas that consumers like? Of course not! However, there is trend gaining momentum that seems to be the moto, "let Apple do most of the innovation and we'll pick off that."
Begin the downranking or bashing of this fanboy, which I'm not, but it is so blaten these days, I can't believe people try to even deny it.
The impressive part is the growth (or decline) column. It is humorous, all the buzz going to the "ultra-portable" laptops this year, as if it were something new.
While the ultra-portables want to kick Apple's MBA to the curb (kerb, in some other English-speaking countries), the analysts think they will only make about a 10% inroad, combined. Why, you might ask? They will cost as much as the MBA or up to 40% more. Some will be thinner than the MBA, but since that's the standard, you also can't charge more. If Apple refreshes the MBA early in this year, as expected, they could blow the wannabes out of the water with something like a retina display, or adding Siri, or some other compelling "next big thing." ...OR a combination of those things.
I'm tickled to see that it's still Apple's ball game and the wannabes are still in a catch-up mode.
