MacBook Neo Helps Apple Gain PC Market Share Despite Shipment Decline [Report]

MacBook Neo helped Apple gain a larger share of the worldwide PC market in the third quarter of 2026, even as Mac shipments fell. New preliminary estimates from Counterpoint Research show the company weathered the downturn better than the market overall.

Apple shipped an estimated 5.6 million Macs, down 11% from the same quarter in 2025. Worldwide PC shipments fell more sharply, dropping 21% to 57 million units. As a result, Apple's share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%, keeping it in fourth place among PC vendors.

The research firm credits MacBook Neo with cushioning the decline. Apple introduced the A18 Pro-powered laptop at $599 in March, then reportedly doubled its production target to 10 million units as demand exceeded expectations.

Among the other major vendors, Lenovo remained first with 15 million shipments and a 26.3% share, followed by HP at 18.1% and Dell at 13.3%. Their shipments fell 23%, 31%, and 25%, respectively. ASUS was the only top-five vendor with a smaller annual decline than Apple: shipments fell 7% to 5.2 million, lifting its share to 9.2%.

Higher memory and component costs continued to push PC prices up, leading consumers to delay replacements. Business fleet refreshes and Windows migration provided some support, but not enough to offset weaker consumer demand. The comparison was also against a strong Q3 2025, when buying ahead of the Windows 10 support deadline and tariff-related inventory adjustments had boosted shipments.

Counterpoint expects the downturn to deepen in the fourth quarter, forecasting a 27% year-over-year decline in global PC shipments. Its outlook for 2027 calls for volumes to remain broadly flat compared with 2026, rather than returning to growth.