iPad Helps Apple Remain No.1 PC seller in the World

[RaduTyrsina]

Your first thought after reading the title would be that there must be a mistake as the iPad is a tablet and it can’t be considered a PC. However, reputed research firm Canalys thinks otherwise and has decided a few years ago that tablets should be referred to as PCs. So, according to Canalys’ data for Q4 2013, Apple has skyrocketed to become the number one PC seller in the world, fueled by record iPad sales of 26 million units.

Apple remained the PC market leader in Q4, shipping 30.9 million units to take a 19.5% share of the market. It shipped 26.0 million iPads, which accounted for 84.3% of its total shipments in Q4. Apple’s share of the overall tablet market increased sequentially from 27.3% to 34.1%, with the launch of the iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display providing a much needed boost. The original iPad mini also fell in price, down to US$299 in the US, making it cheaper than ever to buy an iPad. But competition is mounting and Android tablets are falling in price, which will put pressure on Apple’s market share in 2014.

Canalys has estimated tablet shipments separately, as well, finding out that they have accounted for nearly 50 percent of PC sales, which represents a growth of 65.2 percent from the same quarter last year. Excluding tablets, the PC market has declined by 6.9 percent from Q4 2012. Apple has shipped a combined 30.9 million PC units, capturing 19.5 percent of the market share. Apple’s overall tablet market share increased from 27.3 percent to 34.1 percent from the third quarter of 2013 to the fourth, thanks to the launch of the iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display.

Lenovo is on the second place, having secured an 11.8% share in Q4, followed by Samsung on the third place and with an overall amount of 18.2 million PC units. Samsung and Apple dominate the tablet market, having together a combined market share of 53.2 percent.

Source: Canalys

 

[Ser Aphim]

No suprise. Apple is king.

 

[AQ_OC]

Well, iPad is definitely a computer, but the term "PC" has been long used to refer to a certain type/class of computer that it hardly seems smart to use that term for tablets, which is why reasonable people call iPads and other devices of its ilk "tablets", or tablet computers. Mixing iPads with PCs together when their functions are still largely very different makes little sense. We could augue that smartphones are PCs too, which makes little sense.

 

[s2mikey]

Well, iPad is definitely a computer, but the term "PC" has been long used to refer to a certain type/class of computer that it hardly seems smart to use that term for tablets, which is why reasonable people call iPads and other devices of its ilk "tablets", or tablet computers. Mixing iPads with PCs together when their functions are still largely very different makes little sense. We could augue that smartphones are PCs too, which makes little sense.

Totally agree. I love my iPad and all but it is NOT a PC and I'd never consider it one. Like you said, most people spend more time using their phones and tablets for "computing" than a real PC. This is a case where the data has been fudged in order to make something look better than it really is. In all truthfulness, apple doesn't have that high of a share of the PC market at all. Walk into any major corporation and you'll see they are filled with windows based desktops, laptops and servers. Period. Not many MAC PCs to be found at all.