Global Mac sales fell 22.4% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2023

Global personal computer sales fell 2.7% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to the IDC research group. 

And the news was even worse for the Mac. Its annual sales were down 18.4% from the third quarter of 2022 to the third quarter of 2023.

Worldwide, Apple sold 21.7 million Macs in the third quarter of 2023 compared to sales of 27.9 million in the third quarter of 2022. The Mac’s market share went from 9.3% to 8.4% year-over-year.

Ahead of Apple in global PC sales are: Lenovo (22.7% market share), HP (20.4% market share), and Dell (15.4% market share).

In the U.S., Mac sales were down 18.4% from quarter three of 2022 to quarter three of 2023 on sales of 7 million and 5.7 million. Ahead of Apple in U.S. personal computer sales are: Lenovo (24% market share), HP (20.8% market share), and Dell (14.8% market share). You should note that IDC doesn’t consider tablets such as the iPad as a personal computer.

The silver lining in all of this is that the market contractions appear to have bottomed out and growth is expected in 2024, according to IDC. On an annual basis, the market has experienced unprecedented consecutive declines, marking a stark departure from historical trends tracked since 1995. In 2022, shipment volume plummeted 16.5% compared to the previous year, and preliminary results suggest an additional 13.9% contraction in 2023 compared to 2022, the research group adds. This downturn, unparalleled in the industry’s recorded history, reflects the aftermath of the significant surge in PC purchases driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, says IDC.