Apple is now among the top 5 PC vendors in the world, according to the latest report from market research firm IDC. With 6.3 percent market share in the third quarter of 2014, the Cupertino-based company has jumped to the fifth spot, while Lenovo, HP, Dell, and Acer, held the top four positions with 20, 18.8, 13.3, and 8.4 percent market share, respectively.
Top 5 vendors worldwide, third quarter 2014 (Preliminary)
Shipments are in thousands of units
| PC Vendor | 3Q14 shipments | 3Q14 market share | 3Q13 shipments | 3Q13 market share | Yearly Growth |
| Lenovo | 15,707 | 20.0% | 14,130 | 17.7% | 11.2% |
| HP | 14,729 | 18.8% | 14,016 | 17.5% | 5.1% |
| Dell | 10,442 | 13.3% | 9,517 | 11.9% | 9.7% |
| Acer | 6,632 | 8.4% | 5,952 | 7.4% | 11.4% |
| Apple | 4,982 | 6.3% | 4,577 | 5.7% | 8.9% |
| Others | 26,026 | 33.1% | 31,714 | 39.7% | -17.9% |
| Total | 78,519 | 100.0% | 79,905 | 100.0% | -1.7% |
Apple shipped around 5 million PCs in Q3, compared to the 4.5 million it did in the year-ago quarter, translating into an overall growth of 8.9 percent year-on-year which helped it edge out Asus as the number five vendor.
"The company's steady growth, along with recent price cuts and improved demand in mature markets, has helped it to consistently outgrow the market", the report said. On the other hand Lenovo, which retained the top spot, shipped more than 15 million PCs.
In the US, Apple retained the third spot with over 2.2 million shipments and 13 percent market share. The list was topped by HP, which shipped 4.8 million PCs and had a market share of 27.7 percent, followed by Dell, with 4.1 million shipments and 24 percent market share.
Top 5 vendors in US, third quarter 2014 (Preliminary)
Shipments are in thousands of units
| PC Vendor | 3Q14 shipments | 3Q14 market share | 3Q13 shipments | 3Q13 market share | Yearly Growth |
| HP | 4,808 | 27.7% | 4,440 | 26.7% | 8.3% |
| Dell | 4,165 | 24.0% | 3,478 | 20.9% | 19.7% |
| Apple | 2,260 | 13.0% | 2,068 | 12.4% | 9.3% |
| Lenovo | 1,851 | 10.7% | 1,720 | 10.3% | 7.6% |
| Acer | 1,023 | 5.9% | 789 | 4.7% | 29.6% |
| Others | 3,228 | 18.6% | 4,129 | 24.8% | -21.8% |
| Total | 17,335 | 100.0% | 16,624 | 100.0% | 4.3% |
Overall, worldwide PC shipments stood at 78.5 million units in Q3 2014, a year-on-year decline of 1.7 percent, but a sizable improvement over the forecast of -4.1 percent. "Although shipments did not decline as much as feared, these preliminary results still show that 3Q14 was one of the weaker calendar third quarters on record in terms of sequential growth", said Jay Chou, Senior Research Analyst, Worldwide PC Trackers.
On the other hand, US shipments stood at around 17.4 million units, showing a year-on-year growth of 4.3 percent. "Solid back-to-school sales, a strong performance from key vendors, the continued acceptance of Chromebooks, some commercial uptick from Windows XP to Windows 7 migration, and the slowdown in tablet sales are among the factors that helped the PC market to continue on its positive growth rate trajectory", said Rajani Singh, Senior Research Analyst, Personal Computing.
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