Apple's worldwide Mac shipments were up in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to new PC shipping estimates shared this afternoon by Gartner. Apple shipped an estimated 6.9 million Macs during the quarter, up from the 5.25 million it shipped in the year-ago quarter, marking growth of 31.3 percent.
Apple was the number four vendor during the quarter, and its market share also grew to 8.7 percent, up from 7.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020. There was growth across the entire PC market, and Lenovo, Dell, Acer Group, and ASUS all saw sales growth.
Lenovo was the number one PC vendor in the world with 21.5 million PCs shipped, followed by HP, with 15.7 million PCs shipped. HP was the only vendor that saw a slight drop in sales in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Dell was the number three vendor with 13.2 million PCs shipped, while Acer and ASUS brought up the rear with 4.7 and 4.6 million PCs shipped, respectively.
Overall, there were 79.4 million PCs shipped in the fourth quarter of 2020, a 10.7 percent increase from the fourth quarter of 2019. Total PC shipments hit 275 million in 2020, a 4.8 percent increase from 2019 and the highest growth seen in 10 years.
In the United States, Apple was the number four PC vendor with 2.7 million PCs shipped, up from 2 million in the year-ago quarter for a total of 32 percent growth. HP, Dell, Lenovo, and Microsoft also saw significant growth in U.S. shipments.
Across all of 2020, Apple shipped an estimated 22.5 million Macs worldwide, marking 22.5 percent growth compared to 2019 when it shipped 18.3 million Macs. Apple was the number four vendor for the entire year, trailing Lenovo, HP, and Dell.
IDC also released its own shipping estimates this morning, noting similar significant growth for Apple and other vendors. According to IDC, Apple shipped an estimated 7.4 million Macs, up from 4.9 million in the year-ago quarter for estimated growth of 49.2 percent.
Across 2020, IDC suggests Apple shipped 23 million Macs, up 29.1 percent from the 18 million that it shipped in 2019.
Data shared by Gartner and IDC is estimated and not reflective of Apple's actual sales, though historically, it's not usually too far off. Estimated data used to be able to be confirmed when Apple provided quarterly earnings results with actual Mac sales information, but Apple no longer breaks out unit sales for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, making it impossible to determine exact sales numbers.
Apple in the fourth quarter of 2020 released the M1 Macs, which include the M1 MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini. Mac growth could continue to rise significantly in 2021 as Apple is rumored to be overhauling additional Macs with Apple silicon chips, including iMacs, higher-end MacBook Pro models, and more.
