Apple losing out in the PC Industry, experiences 6% drop

Apple, which used to buck the trend of contracting traditional PC sales, dropped 5.7 percent in the last quarter of 2013, and 3.3 percent for the full-year number. It also dropped from third to fourth in manufacturer rankings late in the year. The only company which appears to be gaining is Lenovo.

The former hardware division of IBM grew a comparatively huge nine percent in unit shipments in global shipments during Q4 2013, and an even bigger 10.8 percent in the U.S. Apple meanwhile, which used to buck the trend of contracting traditional PC sales, dropped 5.7 percent in the last quarter of 2013, and 3.3 percent for the full-year number.

For the full year, Lenovo shipped almost 54 million PCs, growing slightly from just over 52 million, while former global leader HP dropped 8.5 percent in shipments to 52 million. Dell dropped 2.4 percent globally as well for the full year, but rebounded to grow 5.8 percent in the last quarter, for almost 38 million full-year sales.

Total shipments have now declined for seven consecutive quarters, and even the holiday shopping season was unable to inspire a turn in consumer spending,” VP Loren Loverde said in a statement.

Acer, the low-price leader is slipping badly, with annual shipments down a massive 28.5 percent, dropping from 33.6 million units in 2012 to just 24 million in 2013. Acer didn’t even make the top five vendors list in the U.S. for either the fourth quarter or the full year.

Google’s rising category of Chromebooks is helping some companies grow, including Apple rival Samsung

IDC, of course, is not counting tablet sales as part of PC shipments, which some analysts have argued is a mistake. Including tablets, which are outselling PCs now — and are forecast to outsell PCs by a 7-to-1 margin in 2017 — Apple is still a top PC manufacturer, and still in positive growth territory

Credit: Venture Beat