Global shipments of Traditional PCs, inclusive of desktops, notebooks, and workstations, reached 86.7 million units during the third quarter of 2021 (3Q21), up 3.9% from the prior year. This marks the sixth consecutive quarter of growth for the PC market as the onset of the pandemic has led to a surge in demand while also contributing to component shortages and other supply challenges.

As presented in IDC's chart below, Apple came in fourth place in PC Shipments for Q3-21 with 8.8% market share and 9.9% growth over Q3-20 where they had 8.3% market share. The new iMacs that launched in April were likely the driving force for Apple's growth.

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Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC's Mobile and Consumer Device Trackers: "The PC industry continues to be hampered by supply and logistical challenges and unfortunately these issues have not seen much improvement in recent months. Given the current circumstances, we are seeing some vendors reprioritize shipments amongst various markets, allowing emerging markets to maintain growth momentum while some mature markets begin to slow."

Neha Mahajan, senior research analyst, Devices and Displays at IDC: "Bottlenecked supply chains and ongoing logistic challenges led the U.S. PC market into its first quarter of annual shipment decline since the beginning of the pandemic. After a year of accelerated buying driven by the shift to remote work and learning, there’s also been a comparative slowdown in PC spending and that has caused some softening of the U.S. PC market today. Yet, supply clearly remains behind demand in key segments with inventory still below normal levels."

Apple is expected to launch new MacBook Pro notebooks this month at a special event which will likely boost PC Shipments for Q4 2021 significantly if processors and components don't hold back shipments for the quarter.