PC market: Apple is the big loser in the third quarter, while Asus and Lenovo increase their market share

In the third quarter of 2024, i.e., from July to September, 68.9 million PCs were sold worldwide. This figure includes desktop computers, laptops and workstations, but not tablets. As the data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) shows, sales fell by 2.4% compared to the third quarter of 2023, with only one big loser: Apple.

The iPhone manufacturer only sold 5.3 million Macs in the past quarter, 24.2% fewer than in the previous year. This is despite a similar sales model, as the MacBook Pro with Apple M3 was launched in October 2023 and the new model with Apple M4 is set to follow in October 2024. The IDC report explains the slump in sales by the fact that demand is currently directed towards cheaper computers due to the economic situation. The AI hype, on the other hand, is not yet noticeable, and IDC analysts do not expect AI computers to reach the majority of the market until 2026. 

On the other hand, new Copilot+ PCs with Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite, Intel Lunar Lake and AMD Ryzen as well as the upcoming MacBooks based on the Apple M4 are expected to boost the premium market in the coming months. In the past quarter, Lenovo was once again the largest PC manufacturer in the world with 16.5 million PCs sold, giving the manufacturer a market share of 24.0%. HP is in second place with 13.6 million units and a 19.7% market share, while Dell is in third place with 9.8 million units or 14.3% of the market. Despite the controversy, Asus was able to sell 10% more computers than in the previous year, pushing Apple into fifth place with 5.5 million units and a 7.9% market share.