Gartner and IDC just released their most recent numbers on PC market share and Apple, as expected, continued to climb up the ranks. The Cupertino-based company saw Mac sales rise more than 38 percent to nearly 1.4 million units in the US during the three-month period ending June, according to Gartner, making it the country's third largest PC manufacturer behind Dell and HP. IDC recorded slightly slower growth at 31.7 percent and has Apple in fourth place trailing Acer by 2,000 units.
Overall, the US market grew by around 4.2 per cent, despite the country's weakening economy - albeit at the expense of revenue, as PC manufacturers slashed prices to keep the sales going. On a global basis, shipments reached 71.9 million units in the second quarter of 2008 - a 16 percent increase year-over-year. Apple still doesn't make it to the top 5 in either company's list, however. Meanwhile HP, Dell and Acer maintained their top three spots respectively, with all three of them boasting above industry-level growth.