Apple Retains Fourth Place for Q3 Notebook PC Shipments, Industry Growth Limited by Supply Constraints

Apple retained its position as the fourth-largest global notebook PC vendor in the third quarter of 2020, shipping six million units in total, according to a new report by Strategy Analytics.

Apple shipped 1.7 million more notebook PC units in the third quarter of this year compared to last year, achieving growth of 39 percent. This is in line with significant increases across the industry, which has seen an average 34 percent growth. HP surpassed Lenovo for the first time in years by a slim margin to regain leadership in the notebook PC market. Dell kept its position as the third-largest notebook PC vendor, followed by Apple.

The market saw 34 percent year-on-year shipment growth as a whole, and was actually constrained by limited supply in the face of record demand.

"The third quarter would have been even more productive for some vendors if they were able to deliver more devices to meet high demand. Supply will remain a key concern as demand is expected to stay high... consumers have started their purchases before the holiday season to prepare for the new 'normal' of working and studying from home," Strategy Analytics Senior Research Analyst Chirag Upadhyay said.

Apple has been contending with higher than expected demand and a range of component shortages. As a result, the company is now facing supply constraints across multiple devices, leading to long wait times for orders. At the end of last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook told investors that the company is "working really, really hard" to remedy the ongoing supply issues. Going into the fourth quarter, vendors' ability to meet increasing demand will reportedly be a key factor in the extent of growth.