Mac Market Share: 4.42% in Q4 2010, 4.13% for CY 2010

I'll be writing up a news story about Apple's blockbuster quarterly results in a bit, but I wanted to follow-up my earlier story about PC sales in the fourth quarter of 2010 (Q4) and calendar year (CY) with information about Apple's Mac market share for the same time periods.

With 4.1 million Macs sold in Q4 2010, Apple controlled 4.42 percent of the worldwide market for PCs in the fourth quarter.

With 14.4 million Macs sold in CY 2010, Apple had worldwide marketshare of 4.13 percent for all of 2010.

It's worth noting, however, that Apple sold a phenomenal 7.33 million iPads in Q4 2010 as well, easily beating the most optimistic predictions. And while the iPad isn't a PC, it essentially will be soon. If you compare the iPad to the wider PC market (adding iPad sales to PC sales), with just this device, Apple controlled 7.7 percent of the market for PCs in Q4 2010 (worldwide). 

Not interesting enough? How about this one: If you aggregate Mac and Apple sales (12.12 million units), then Apple controlled 11.77 percent of the worldwide market .. for PCs. Note, however, that his doesn't take into account sales of similar devices like the Samsung Galaxy tab. But there is little doubt that Mac + iPad unit sales in Q4 2010 represented roughly 10+ percent of the sales for all PCs and similar computing devices. That is simply amazing and should give pause to PC makers everywhere.

Related side-note: So Apple sold 12.12 million PC- and PC-like devices in Q4 2010. How does this compare to the biggest PC makers in the world? Quite favorably. HP is still number one by a wide margin, with 17.77 million PCs sold worldwide. But Apple is neck-and-neck, or even above, PC makers like Dell (10.9 million units) and Acer (10.8 million units). Again, this is a bit skewed because it doesn't count other tablet device sales, but whatever. Depending on how you look at it, Apple is the number two PC maker in the world, arguably, and certainly in the top five. This is the first time such a thing has happened, and it's only because of the iPad; previously, Apple didn't even register in the top five worldwide, ever.

Honestly, the big news here is the surge in iPad sales. Few in the Apple-friendly press seem to remember this, but iPad sales actually disappointed in Q3 2010, when actual unit sales were well under all estimates. Sales rebounded--and then some--in Q4, raising the yearly total dramatically and raising estimates for the future as well.

Impressive stuff no matter how you slice it.

(Any math errors are mine, and inadvertent. If you see something fishy, let me know. My calculator skills are lacking, but this is pretty simple math. Remember that I always use an average of figures from IDC and Gartner for all calculations. Remember too that Apple does not release US-specific sales figures, making US market share calculation more black art than mathematical.)

Discuss this Article 3

Keleko
on Jan 19, 2011
Not counting other tablet sales doesn't really change anything. There isn't any significant maker of tablets anywhere close to Apple's iPad sales. The Galaxy Tab is the only one remotely close. So, ummm... what are Samsung's PC sales like?

And you are already counting Windows based tablets because HP, Dell, etc include them in PC sales. They haven't sold any other kind of tablet because they don't have one (yet). If people buy an iPad instead of a PC then I think you have to include it as a PC competitor and count sales of it just like any other PC.

chuckb84
on Jan 19, 2011
"Mac + iPad unit sales in Q4 2010 represented roughly 10+ percent of the sales for all PCs and similar computing devices. That is simply amazing and should give pause to PC makers everywhere."

Well, finally! News of Apple's success has finally gotten out and we're getting away from stupid questions about whether the iPad "counts" as a PC or not.

What Apple is doing is even more amazing if you look at the dollar share instead of the unit share. NO other PC company is anywhere close.



Backup77
on Jan 19, 2011
Hi Paul

I have to say that its a pretty impressive set of numbers with the iPad selling at a frenetic pace. This device is a game changer and will be even more so after the release of iPad2 which will address & no doubt fix criticisms of iPad1. I am a Windows guy but I will be looking very closely at the next release of this evolutionary device.

Please or Register to post comments.

IT/Dev Connections

Las Vegas
September 30th - October 4th

Paul ThurottYou'll have the opportunity to experience:
• 120 Technical
Sessions
• Networking with Peers
• Expert Speakers


Come See Paul Thurrott & Mary Jo Foley in Person!

Register Now

Office 365 InfoCenter

Get the latest insight and info from Paul

Read Now!

What I Use