Worldwide PC Shipments Down 4.3% in Q4 2018, Mac Shipments Down 3.8% [Report]

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 86.6 million units in the fourth quarter of 2018, a drop of 4.3% from the year before, according to a new report from Gartner. For the year, total shipments surpassed 259.4 million units, a decrease of 1.3% from 2017.

"Just when demand in the PC market started seeing positive results, a shortage of CPUs (central processing units) created supply chain issues. After two quarters of growth in 2Q18 and 3Q18, PC shipments declined in the fourth quarter," said Mikako Kitagawa, senior principal analyst at Gartner. "The impact from the CPU shortage affected vendors’ ability to fulfill demand created by business PC upgrades. We expect this demand will be pushed forward into 2019 if CPU availability improves."

“Political and economic uncertainties in some countries dampened PC demand,” Ms. Kitagawa said. “There was even uncertainty in the U.S. — where the overall economy has been strong — among vulnerable buyer groups, such as small and midsize businesses (SMBs). Consumer demand remained weak in the holiday season. Holiday sales are no longer a major factor driving consumer demand for PCs.”




Only Lenovo (5.9%) and Dell (1.4%) saw market growth in the fourth quarter. HP, Apple, ASUS, Acer, and others saw declines of -4.4%, -3.8%, -10.7%, -18.3%, and -12.9%, respectively.

Looking at all of 2018, Apple saw shipments decline 5% but it remained the fourth largest manufacturer with a market share of 6.9% behind Lenovo (22.5%), HP (21.7%), and Dell (16.2%).

Check out the charts below for more details...


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