Global PC market hits 7-year high, but Apple's market share decreases

According to Canalys statistics, the global PC market (including desktops, notebooks and computer workstations) grew by 4.7% in the third quarter of 2019 to 70.9 million units, setting a new record since the first quarter of 2012. Lenovo, HP and Dell ranked in the top three, followed by Apple and Acer.

The increase in PC sales demand is due to the upgrade of Windows 10 and seasonal inventory prepared for the holidays, but more importantly, macroeconomic adjustments. Canalys pointed out that this is a short-term boost, and its impact may continue into the first quarter of 2020. "The climax of the PC market is refreshing, but the speed at which suppliers can increase production is limited," said Rushabh Doshi, research director of Canalys Mobile Services.

In the United States, shipments grew 3% year-on-year, driven by back-to-school demand and a consumption tax for the November-January holiday period, with both Apple and HP outperforming the market.
　　

In Europe, the risk of long-term investment and uncertainty over the outcome of Brexit have limited the development of the PC market. Shipments in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region grew by 2%, and Apple was the only supplier among the top five that did not see shipment growth in these regions.
　　

In Japan, total PC shipments were 4.5 million, up 63% year-over-year, with the top three vendors posting their highest performance in Japan. The growth in the Japanese PC market is driven by a number of factors, including the discontinuation of Windows 7 support, IT preparations for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and Japan's consumption tax increase in October, which have all pushed up sell-out rates across Japan.

But for Apple, although the PC market has grown significantly year-on-year, it mainly comes from other suppliers. Lenovo accounted for 24.4% of global PC shipments, an increase of more than 7% year-on-year, followed by HP, accounting for 23.6% of global PC shipments, an increase of more than 8% year-on-year. Although Mac shipments increased by 1.5% year-on-year, its market share remained below 8% and shrank from 7.8% to 7.6%.

Despite its outstanding performance in the United States, Apple has performed mediocrely in other regions such as Europe. The specific performance of Apple in the market will be revealed in the fourth quarter conference call for fiscal year 2019 held at 5 pm Eastern Time on the 30th of this month (5 am Beijing Time on the 31st).