Mac sales were down 23.1% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2023

The downward spiral for personal computer (PC) shipments continued during the third quarter of 2023 (3Q23) as global volumes declined 7.6% year over year with 68.2 million PCs shipped, according to preliminary results from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. 

And it wasn’t good news for the Mac. Apple saw its personal computer sales drop 23.1% year-over-year from 3Q22 to 3Q23. While most of the top 5 vendors experienced double-digit declines during the quarter, Apple’s outsized decline was the result of unfavorable year-over-year comparisons as the company recovered from a COVID-related halt in production during 3Q22, according to IDC.

Still, Apple remains in fourth place among global PC vendors with 10.6% market share and sales of 7.2 million Macs in 3Q23. That compares to 12.7% market share and sales of 9.4 million in the year-ago quarter. 

Ahead of Apple in global PC market share are: Lenovo (23.5% market share); HP (19.8% market share); and Dell (10.3% market share). Also note that IDC doesn’t count tablets such as the iPad as a personal computer. If it did, Apple’s market share would be much higher.