It appears that customers are holding off from buying Apple’s Mac devices as rumors swirl that Apple is planning to release new and updated versions, with IDC (International Data Corporation) reporting that shipments of the devices dropped 11.6% in the third quarter of 2018.
A decline in shipments is never good news, and as IDC points out, Apple finished in fifth place in PC market share, and was the only company in the top five to under perform compared to the overall market.
Meanwhile, Lenovo took the top spot with a 24% market share and 5.8% growth. HP was second with 22.8% market share and 0.3% growth. Dell came third with 17% market share and 5.8% growth, while Acer is fourth with 7.2% market share and a very impressive 8.5% growth.
The IDC puts Acer’s remarkable growth down to its growing Chromebook range and the success of its gaming laptops.
It makes Apple’s results, with a 7.1% market share (compared to 7.9% at the same point last year) even more disappointing.
Fallen Apple
So, what’s caused Apple’s poor results? First of all, it should be noted that IDC’s results are based on estimates. Apple will be reporting its quarterly earnings on November 1, where we’ll get a better idea of how Mac sales are doing.
However, unless IDC got things really wrong, we’re expecting Apple to announce a drop in Mac sales as well. It might not be all bad news, however, as it seems like customers are holding off buying Apple’s current line-up of ageing Macs in the hope that Apple refreshes the hardware soon.
Apple is holding an event on October 22, where it is likely to unveil new iPads, as well as updated Mac hardware. If Apple does indeed release new Macs with up-to-date hardware, we could see a lot of customers who were holding off buying a Mac now making a purchase. This would bode well for Apple’s next set of quarterly results.
However, as the growth of Lenovo and Acer demonstrates, Apple won’t want to wait too long, otherwise it might find its potential customers turning to its competitors instead.
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Via 9to5Mac
