The Mac saw good — maybe great — annual growth in the first quarter of 2024

The Mac saw good — maybe great — annual growth in the first quarter of 2024. However, exactly how good depends on which research group report you prefer. Let’s look at two new studies.

IDC

After two years of decline, the worldwide traditional PC market returned to growth during the first quarter of 2024 with 59.8 million shipments, growing 1.5% year over year, according to preliminary results from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. 

IDC says Apple sold 4.8 million Macs in Q1 of 2024 for 8.1% of the global market share. That compares to sales of 4.2 million Macs and 7.1% market share in Q1 of 2023. That’s annual growth of 14.6%, the biggest of all PC vendors, according to IDC.

This research group lists the top five global PC companies, and their market share, as Lenovo (23%); HP (20.1%); Dell (15.5%); Apple (8.1%); and Acer (6.2%)

The worldwide PC market had a healthy start to 2024, with total shipments of desktops and notebooks growing 3.2% annually to 57.2 million units in the first quarter (Q1) 2024, according to Canalys. 

Canalys

The research group says that notebook shipments (including mobile workstations) were up 4.2% to 45.1 million units, while desktop shipments (including desktop workstations) were relatively flat, down just 0.4% at 12.1 million units. 

Canalys says Lenovo led the PC market in Q1 2024 with a 24% market share, delivering strong growth of 8% and shipping 13.7 million notebooks and desktops. Second-placed HP posted a flat performance, shipping 12.0 million units. Dell secured third place but suffered a minor shipment decline of 2% year on year. 

Apple took fourth place in the vendor rankings with growth of 2.5%, boosted by the launch of new MacBook Air products late in the quarter. Acer rounded out the top five vendors with 3.7 million PCs shipped. 

According to Canalys, Apple sold 5.4 million Macs in Q1 of 2024 for 9.4% of the global PC market. That compares to sales of 5.2 million and 9.4% market share in Q1 of 2023. The Mac saw annual growth of 2.5%, according to Canalys.

Also note that neither IDC nor Canalys count the iPad as a PC. If they did, Apple’s overall PC market share would be much higher.