Is Apple Selling More or Fewer Macs?

Apple won 13.7% of the U.S. PC market in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to Gartner. Even while the PC market overall has been sliding fast — down 7.5% in the U.S. and 6.9% worldwide — Apple is bucking the trend, whose market share has increased almost 30%.

Apple isn't just reaping the benefits of a shrinking market. The company sold 2.2 million Macs in Q4, which is half a million more than it sold during the same period last year. Among PC vendors, it was by far the biggest increase, although Lenovo and Dell also saw gains, the Gartner report shows.

If you ask IDC, however, the picture is much different. According to its preliminary Q4 numbers, Apple's sales slid along with almost everyone else's, selling just 1.6 million Macs, or 5.7% fewer than it did a year ago. Read more...