Mac shipments fall ahead of big refreshes as PC sales grow

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Apple
We're all waiting for brand-new models.
Photo: Apple

Mac shipments fell during the third quarter of 2019 as PC sales continued to grow, according to new estimates from Gartner.

Apple’s market share declined as a result, but the company maintains its fourth spot for now. And shipments will almost certainly be boosted soon by the launch of the all-new Mac Pro and 16-inch MacBook Pro.

Apple has already refreshed a couple of its machines this year, including the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. But others, including iMac, iMac Pro, and Mac mini, have gone without any attention for some time.

Rather unsurprisingly, then, shipments for the third quarter fell 3.7% year-over-year.

Mac shipments fall to 5.1 million units

Apple is estimated to have shipped 5.1 million units during the three-month period, down from 5.3 million units the same time last year. Its market share fell from 7.9% to 7.5%, leaving it in fourth position.

Apple sits behind Lenovo, HP, and Dell, which shipped 16.8 million, 15.3 million, and 11.3 million units, respectively. It is still ahead of Acer and Asus, which shipped 4.2 million and 3.8 million units.

Mac-shipments-Q3-2019
PC shipments for Q3 2019.
Photo: Gartner

Total PC shipments for the third quarter topped 68.1 million units — a 1.1% rise over the 67.4 million units shipped during the same period last year.

It could be worse

IDC’s estimates suggest an even bigger decline in Mac shipments. It also ranks Apple in fourth behind Lenovo, HP, and Dell. But it states just 5 million units were shipped Q3 2019 — 6.1% fewer than in Q3 2018.

Apple did enjoy some growth in the United States, where shipments topped 2.2 million units — a 0.2% increase over Q3 2018, according to Gartner. And it will likely see big boosts from new hardware in the coming months.

New Macs on the way

The all-new Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR display are scheduled to arrive this fall, and we could see minor upgrades to other machines ahead of the lucrative holiday season, too.

The rumoured 16-inch MacBook Pro, with an edge-to-edge display and improved keyboard, is also expected early next year. We hope to at least see a preview of it at Apple’s all-but-certain October event.

Via: MacRumors

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