Research Firms Paint Contrasting Pictures of Apple’s Mac Shipments in Q2 2019

Prominent analysis companies Gartner and IDC try to estimate shipments of computer systems world wide on a quarterly foundation, and each companies at the moment launched their estimates for the second calendar quarter.

Gartner’s and IDC’s estimates are simply that — estimates – and with Apple not reporting unit gross sales of Macs and different merchandise, we cannot understand how correct these estimates find yourself being. But as revealed in at the moment’s releases, they will differ fairly a bit.

Gartner’s Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 2Q19 (Thousands of Units)

Gartner says worldwide PC shipments have been up 1.5 % year-over-year, with Lenovo main the way in which on sturdy progress and HP and Dell sitting in second and third locations respectively. Apple registered in fourth place with an estimated 3.711 million Macs shipped, a 0.2 % decline over the earlier 12 months, whereas Acer and Asus rounded out the highest distributors on a world foundation.

“Worldwide PC shipments growth was driven by demand from the Windows 10 refresh in the business market in the second quarter of 2019. Desktop PC growth was strong, which offset a decline in mobile PC shipments,” mentioned Mikako Kitagawa, senior principal analyst at Gartner.

“Additionally, there are signs that the Intel CPU shortage is easing, which has been an ongoing impact to the market for the past 18 months. The shortage mainly impacted small and midsize vendors as large vendors took advantage and continued to grow, taking market share away from the smaller vendors that struggled to secure CPUs.”

Turning to the U.S., the general market noticed a slight 0.Four % decline in comparison with the second quarter of 2018, however Apple’s shipments dropped by an estimated 5.6 % to 1.585 million. Apple maintained its fourth-place rating in the U.S. behind HP, Dell, and Lenovo, and properly forward of Microsoft and Acer.

Gartner’s Preliminary U.S. Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 2Q19 (Thousands of Units)

If correct, Gartner’s estimates would put Apple with its lowest share of the U.S. PC market for the reason that first quarter of 2014 and the bottom recorded on a world foundation since Gartner began together with Apple as a prime international vendor in the third quarter of 2014.

Apple’s Market Share Trend: 1Q06–1Q19 (Gartner)

IDC’s estimates paint a a lot totally different image, nevertheless, projecting worldwide PC cargo progress of 4.7 % in comparison with the second quarter of 2018. IDC pegs Apple as having shipped 4.011 million Macs in the quarter for practically 10 % year-over-year progress.

IDC says Apple benefited from elevated stock ranges due not solely to the launch of new MacE book Pro fashions but additionally some proactive shipments into the distribution channels to protect in opposition to potential upcoming tariffs.