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.
