Apple Hits New High with 13.6% Share of U.S. PC Shipments in 3Q 2012, Lenovo Captures Worldwide Title

Research firm Gartner today released its preliminary personal computer shipment data for the third quarter of 2012, providing a picture of just how weak market performance was during the quarter. While Apple actually experienced a year-over-year unit decline of 6.1% in the United States, other top vendors with the exception of Lenovo posted even steeper declines, giving the overall U.S. market a 13.8% decrease in shipments.

gartner 3Q12 us
Gartner's Preliminary U.S. PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 3Q12 (Thousands of Units)

Apple's share of the U.S. market rose to 13.6% for the third quarter on the strength of the back-to-school market, which is typically drives Apple's best performing quarter. The figure allowed Apple to maintain its comfortable hold on the third position in the U.S. market behind HP and Dell and marks Apple's best performance in recent years in beating out the company's 12.5% share in the third quarter of 2011.

gartner 3Q12 us trend
Apple's U.S. Market Share Trend: 1Q06-3Q12 (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 an 8.3% year-over-year decline on a worldwide basis, with Lenovo's 9.8% growth enabling it to take the shipment title away from HP.

Update 2:04 PM: IDC has also released its estimates for the quarter, pegging Apple's share of the U.S. market at 12.5% on a shipment decline of 7%. According to IDC, the overall U.S. market shrank by 12.4%

On a worldwide basis, IDC estimates that HP was narrowly able to hold off Lenovo for the top spot.

Top Rated Comments

Shasterball Avatar
150 months ago
Update your desktops and more people might buy them!!!
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ironsienna Avatar
150 months ago
Cool, they get richer and richer... So what when they don't spend these money on more research and development??? Where is the liquid metal? Where are the AR glasses? Where are the cutting edge 3D User Interfaces? Where are the curved glasses on desktop screens? Siri is still in Beta after a full year. 20% of the maps are covered by thick clouds and instead of spending these money on sending a satellite to space and take some really good photos they are sending apple store employers to tag the roads of their area. They milked the americans, they milked the europeans and they are milking now the chinese....

Is it apple getting tired or am I getting older?
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
keysofanxiety Avatar
150 months ago
It's crazy to think, really. Apple consider themselves an innovative company, and have crazy profits on their computers. Yet the iMac is outdated, the Mac Mini is outdated, and the Mac Pro is just horrendously -- terribly outdated.

There isn't an excuse. There really isn't. The chips are there, and other companies manage it. I hope I'm being naive, and I hope somebody can explain why they don't do it, because I'm simply in the dark with it.

If they managed to update their Pro line more consistently in the PowerPC days, when the CPU development was much less than Intel's, then why can't they do that now?

It's sad to see, because I feel it's hard to defend Apple as a company these days. The very people who put them into business, and who stuck with them when everybody else was laughing in the late '90s and early '00s, are the very people who Apple now ignore and put on the back burner.

I'm not one of those people; I'm a fairly recent convert. But still, my heart goes out to those who have essentially been screwed over.

Update the damn Macs, Apple. Pull your finger out, and show people you're not a company that caters to hipsters. /rant
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
inkswamp Avatar
150 months ago
Cool, they get richer and richer...
...so what when they don't spend these money on more research and development??? Where is the liquid metal? Where are the AR glasses? Siri is still in Beta after a full year....

Is it apple getting tired or am I getting older?

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
xkmxkmxlmx Avatar
150 months ago
For 99% of the users the current machines are adequate. Even my 2008 MacPro which I use for intensive audio production still holds up very well.
That's not the point. I know users that could get by on a 2006 iMac, easily. Apple wants the same price for something they released a year and a half ago. Which were pretty expensive upon release anyway. So to expect your customers to pay the same price for stuff that is outdated is a slap in the face.

And then there are people who would greatly benefit from more cpu and gpu power, solid state drives and usb 3. These are basic standards that come with almost any computer these days (even Apple's own laptop line has them).

So while you can adequately browse your facebook page with your 2008, don't assume that your situation is the norm, nor that there are other types of customers other than that majority, if it were the case.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
swb1192 Avatar
150 months ago
Cool, they get richer and richer...
...so what when they don't spend these money on more research and development??? Where is the liquid metal? Where are the AR glasses? Siri is still in Beta after a full year....

Is it apple getting tired or am I getting older?

Apple is a very strategic investor with every single dollar, unlike some other companies (e.g. Google). They don't rush out and throw money and see what sticks - they think about what will do well and what they are interested in themselves.

A much different approach, and it has obviously been working quite well over the past decade+.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

reset password request iphone

Warning: Apple Users Targeted in Phishing Attack Involving Rapid Password Reset Requests

Tuesday March 26, 2024 4:34 pm PDT by
Phishing attacks taking advantage of Apple's password reset feature have become increasingly common, according to a report from KrebsOnSecurity. Multiple Apple users have been targeted in an attack that bombards them with an endless stream of notifications or multi-factor authentication (MFA) messages in an attempt to cause panic so they'll respond favorably to social engineering. An...
Generic iOS 18 Feature Purple

iOS 18: What to Expect From 'Biggest' Update in iPhone's History

Wednesday March 27, 2024 11:10 am PDT by
At least some Apple software engineers continue to believe that iOS 18 will be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. "The iOS 18 update is expected to be the most ambitious overhaul of the iPhone's software in its history, according to people working on the upgrade," wrote Gurman, in a r...
maxresdefault

Apple to Launch New iPad Pro and iPad Air Models in May

Thursday March 28, 2024 11:07 am PDT by
Apple will introduce new iPad Pro and iPad Air models in early May, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman previously suggested the new iPads would come out in March, and then April, but the timeline has been pushed back once again. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Apple is working on updates to both the iPad Pro and iPad Air models. The iPad Pro models will...
maxresdefault

Apple Announces WWDC 2024 Event for June 10 to 14

Tuesday March 26, 2024 10:02 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its 35th annual Worldwide Developers Conference is set to take place from Monday, June 10 to Friday, June 14. As with WWDC events since 2020, WWDC 2024 will be an online event that is open to all developers at no cost. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. WWDC 2024 will include online sessions and labs so that developers can learn about new...
apple maps 3d feature

Apple Maps May Gain Custom Routes With iOS 18

Tuesday March 26, 2024 3:10 pm PDT by
Apple may be planning to add support for "custom routes" in Apple Maps in iOS 18, according to code reviewed by MacRumors. Apple Maps does not currently offer a way to input self-selected routes, with Maps users limited to Apple's pre-selected options, but that may change in iOS 18. Apple has pushed an iOS 18 file to its maps backend labeled "CustomRouteCreation." While not much is revealed...
General iOS 17 Feature Orange Purple

Apple Releases Revised Versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 With Updated Build Number

Wednesday March 27, 2024 5:59 am PDT by
Apple on late Tuesday released revised versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 with an updated build number of 21E237, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The updates previously had a build number of 21E236. The revised updates are available for all iPhone and iPad models that are compatible with iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, but they can only be installed via the Finder app on macOS...
applephilschiller

Apple's Phil Schiller Works 80 Hours a Week Overseeing App Store

Wednesday March 27, 2024 2:03 pm PDT by
With the App Store and app ecosystem undergoing major changes in the European Union, The Wall Street Journal today shared a profile on App Store chief Phil Schiller, who is responsible for the App Store. Though Schiller transitioned from marketing chief to "Apple Fellow" in 2020 to take a step back from Apple and spend more time on personal projects and friends, he is reportedly working...