Mac shipments grow faster than any PC maker can match

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Mac shipments continue a steady upward trend, increasing 14.1% year over year during the first quarter of 2025, according to a market research firm. While three PC makers sell more units than Apple, none can match Cupertino’s annual growth rate.

But the analysts note that tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on computers brought into the United States will have “a direct inflationary impact” later in the year, potentially cooling demand for computers of all types.

Q1 2025 Mac shipments grow and grow

Shoppers have turned to Mac in increasing numbers over the past years, with Apple needing to ship more and more units to meet demand. In Q1 of 2023, total shipments of macOS computers were 4.2 million. By the same quarter of 2024 the total was 4.8 million. And last quarter, the total number of Macs shipped was 5.5 million, according to analysts at IDC. That’s a 31% increase over two years.

Apple now has 8.7% of the global computer market, up from 8% a year ago.

All these totals account for shipments of desktops, notebooks, and workstations but do not include tablets or servers.

The PC competition

Lenovo continues to hold onto the top spot in the PC market with 15.2 million units shipped in Q1 2025, according to IDC. Its annual growth rate was 10.8%. Rival HP shipped 12.8 million units for a 6.1% growth rate.

Dell was in third place in the global PC race in the first quarter, with 9.6 million units shipped. That’s 3% more than the previous year.

As previously noted, Apple’s annual growth rate last quarter was 14.1%.

Trump tariffs overshadow the computer market

“Evidently, commercial demand remained strong in the first quarter, but the new round of US tariffs announced on April 2nd could have a direct inflationary impact on the PC market that could result in delayed IT spending for the remainder of the year,” said Jean Philippe Bouchard, research vice-president with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers.

His colleague agrees that the Trump tariffs will bring inflation.

“When it comes to hardware like PCs and similar devices, we still maintain the view that most (if not all) price increases will get passed directly to the consumer,” said Ryan Reith, group vice president with IDC’s Worldwide Device Trackers.