Apple makes up almost half of all PC operating profit

It's no surprise that PC sales are tanking, thanks to what many believe is the beginning of the post-PC era, where smartphones and tablets are taking over. The last quarterly results of PC sale saw the largest decline in PC sales in 20 years. However, PCs are still selling, and Apple is leading the way when it comes to pure operating profit.

Apple currently makes up 45% of all PC operating profit, with Dell making up 13%, HP at 7%, Lenovo at 6%, ASUS at 6%, and Acer at a measly 1%., with 21% of the total pie consisting of "other" PC manufacturers. Of course, it's important to note that profit is different than sales. Apple may not have sold the most computers, but they made the most profit from the ones they did sell.

The data comes from industry analysis firm Asymco, who say that the volumes which "made up for" low margins with PC sales are "disappearing." Of course, Apple is experiencing the same problem, but on much lower scale, because they have "positioned themselves for growth with devices and content commerce and services."

The problem seems to be OEMs' reliance on Windows 8, which has been met with criticism as a step backward in desktop operating systems, whereas Apple integrates its operating system with its own hardware. Simply tacking on Windows 8 to various hardware is certainly cheaper for OEMs, but if Windows 8 fails, hardware sales go down with it.

[via Cult of Mac]