IDC just released their latest worldwide PC sales tracking report. Bottom line, Apple maintained their relative position at number five, behind Lenovo, HP, Dell, and Acer Group, but showed explosive growth, moving from a 5.8% share of the market in 4Q2013 to 7.1% in 4Q2014.
Growth from 5.8% to 7.1% is no small potatoes. That’s a 22% increase in global market share over a one year period.
In the US, Apple is number three, behind HP and Dell, growing from 11.3% to 12.7% year over year.
Well, those potatoes aren’t huge either. Market share is a relative measure. While everyone in the top five grew shipments, the rest of the market saw a 20% decline. Mac grew strongly on its own, but its position in the market was buoyed by others falling.
What’s more interesting to me is that PC shipments are down 3% for the year, instead of 2%, when you don’t count Mac.
We also need to remember that favorable or unfavorable, IDC is still just making estimates and those estimates are often way off (especially with regard to world-wide Mac sales). Let’s wait and see what Apple says on January 27th during their earnings report.