The PC market is booming, but something strange is happening with Macs

A new IDC report suggests that Apple's Mac shipments have been flat during the holiday quarter in 2025 in comparison to last year. And according to the firm, this has happened despite a broader rebound in the global PC market. 

Apple's Mac sales flat despite growth in the market 

According to the report, global PC shipments experienced a growth of around 9.6% year over year in the fourth quarter of last year. The total number of shipments is reportedly 76.4 million units, and they have exceeded the expectations of researchers. 

This could partly be due to many brands accelerating their purchases because of several factors. Among those are constraints that are anticipated for the supply chain, as well as price increases in components. 


Globally, Apple is fourth. The Cupertino tech giant comes behind Lenovo, HP, and Dell, while all these companies have experienced double-digit shipment growth. 

Lenovo shipped 19.3 million units in Q4, 2025, and that's a 14.4% of growth from last year for the company. On the other hand, HP shipped 15.4 million units, which corresponds to a growth of 12.1%. 

Strong quarter for PC sales

IDC believes that this strong fourth quarter could mainly be due to the end of support for Windows 10, which is approaching. Tariff-related concerns are also a factor, according to the research firm. On top of it all, there's uncertainty around the supply of memory chips. 

Meanwhile, Apple's performance throughout the year remained stable. According to IDC estimations, the Cupertino tech giant has shipped 25.6 million Macs in 2025. That's still growth in comparison to how the company performed in 2024. In fact, Apple has seen a growth of 11.1% year over year in Mac shipments overall. 

That growth is obviously stronger than the growth in the PC market overall, which is 8.1% (corresponding to 284.7 million units globally). Apple's market share for the year rose to 9.0%. It used to be 8.7% in 2024, even though it dropped slightly in the fourth quarter of 2024. 

Mac sales didn't crash, but they didn't shine either, apparently 

What stands out to me here is how calm Apple's numbers look in a quarter when everyone else is clearly rushing forward. While the PC market bounced back and other brands posted double-digit growth, Apple's Mac sales basically stayed in place. 

Obviously, that's not a disaster by any means, but it does feel a bit underwhelming for a company that usually likes to stand out, especially during the holiday season.

At the same time, I don't think this tells a full "bad news" story for Apple. Macs are not impulse buys (and some models and configurations can be incredibly expensive), and Apple users tend to upgrade more slowly. The company also doesn't seem to chase short-term spikes driven by Windows 10 deadlines or tariff fears. 

Instead, Apple seems to be playing the long game here, and over the full year, Mac shipments still grew faster than the PC market as a whole. That’s not to be underestimated.

Still, this flat quarter might hint that Macs need a fresh push. Whether that's more aggressive pricing, clearer product positioning, or just more exciting updates, Apple may need to give people a stronger reason to upgrade right now. The Mac business is stable, but in a growing market, stability can sometimes be a dangerous place to be in.