Apple’s Mac fares better then competitors as global PC sales fall

Global shipments for traditional personal computers (PCs) fell below expectations in the fourth quarter of 2022 (4Q22) as 67.2 million PCs were shipped, down 28.1% from the prior year, according to preliminary results from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. Apple’s Mac is faring much better than its competitors.

The fourth quarter 2022 shipments are comparable to the fourth quarter of 2018, when the market was constrained by Intel’s supply challenges, according to IDC. The research group says it’s clear the pandemic boom is over for the PC market, but despite recent declines, annual shipments for 2022 were well above pre-pandemic levels at 292.3 million units for the full year. 

That’s the good news. The bad is that demand remains a concern as most users have relatively new PCs and the global economy worsens, according to IDC.

Globally, Apple shipped 7.5 million Macs in the fourth quarter compared to 7.7 million in quarter four of 2021. That’s down 2.1%. 

Apple now has 11.2% of the global PC market compared to 8.2% in quarter four of 2021. Ahead of the Mac maker is Lenovo (with sales down 28.5% year-over-year), HP (with sales down 29% year-over-year), and Dell (whose annual sales are down 37.2%).

For the entire year of 2022, Apple sold 28.6 million Macs for 9.8% market share. That compares to sales of 27.9 in 201 for 8% market share. Ahead of Apple in global PC market share for all of 2022 are Lenovo (23.3%), HP (18.9%), and Dell (17%). Also note that IDC doesn’t count tablets such as the iPad in its tally of personal computers.