Worldwide personal computer shipments are finally making a comeback after a six-year slump in sales.
The latest report from Gartner estimates that during the second quarter of 2018 PC shipments finally grew year-over-year for the first time since the first quarter of 2012. With 1.4% overall growth for the market, PC makers have a lot to be happy about, and Apple’s shipment numbers were some of the best in the bunch.
Apple has been the one steady bright spot in the PC market over the last few years. While most other PC manufacturers have seen sales dip for six years, Apple’s Mac lineup has increased shipments year-over-year nearly every quarter. Now the rest of the industry is finally starting to catch fire too.
PC shipments on the rise
Photo: Gartner
Mac shipments were up 3 percent compared to the same quarter last year. Lenovo and Dell had some of the biggest numbers though with 10.5% and 9.5% increases YOY. Business sales were the biggest driver of growth as consumers are relying more on their smartphones to do some PC tasks.
“PC shipment growth in the second quarter of 2018 was driven by demand in the business market,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. “In the consumer space, the fundamental market structure, due to changes on PC user behavior, still remains, and continues to impact market growth. Consumers are using their smartphones for even more daily tasks, such as checking social media, calendaring, banking and shopping, which is reducing the need for a consumer PC.”
Apple’s new MacBook Pros should help boost sales even further this year. The company updated the 15-inch and 13-inch MacBook Pros today with new Coffee Lake processors, True Tone displays, support for 32GB of RAM and an improved butterfly keyboard.
