Lenovo narrowly beats Apple for US-based PC shipments in Q1

By Chris Burns/May 21, 2014 12:54 pm EST

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This week the folks at Lenovo have suggested that – perhaps for the first time in a very long time – they've beaten Apple for PC sales in the United States. Lenovo makes a point to mention they've "surpassed Apple" for PC shipments in their financial fourth quarter in their press release titled "Lenovo Outperforms Market in 4th Quarter and Full Year 2013/14."

According to IDC numbers, Lenovo did indeed beat Apple – by a very, very small margin. Lenovo's numbers do seem to be based on IDC numbers in some parts of their presentation to investors this week, but they don't match up perfectly with what we've heard from an IDC official today.

ABOVE: The only place a 3rd-party source is mentioned in Lenovo's presentation to investors this week SEE: PDF. This shows Worldwide shares of PC, Tablet, and Smartphone shipments, while USA-based shipments are kept to text.

According to the Lenovo press release delivered earlier today, "Lenovo surpassed Apple in PC units, while achieving the number 3 position for the first time." They go on to suggest that they command a share of 10.8 percent in the United States.

This is very, very similar to what's been shared today by the IDC with SlashGear. The IDC suggests that in 2014 Q1, Lenovo's share of PC shipments in the United States was 10.76% – presumably rounded up by the PC manufacturer. Apple's share in the IDC's 2014 Q1 was 10.68%, showing a difference between Apple and Lenovo to be 0.072%.

*NOTE: IDC's Q1 is the same as Lenovo's Financial Q4: the first three months of the year 2014.

The IDC's policy for PC shipments is to "call a ranking difference when the share is different by more than 0.1%." An IDC representative went on to say today that "by this policy, [Apple and Lenovo] are tied for 3rd, although Lenovo volume was slightly higher."

IDC shipments for the PC market in the United States as a whole for Q1 2014 were set at 14.355 million. Apple commanded 1.543 million units shipped while Lenovo shipped 1.544 million units.

According to IDC for the entire year of 2013, HP won the race with 16.160 million units shipped while Dell stuck second with 14.060 million units shipped. Apple commanded third place for the entire year of 2013 with 6.946 million units shipped in the United States while Lenovo ended up rather close with 6.201 million units shipped.