Mac Shipments More Than Doubled in First Three Months of 2021 Compared to Same Period in 2020 [Updated]

The Mac experienced momentous growth in the first quarter of this year, with shipments growing by 111.5% compared to the same time period last year, according to market data from IDC.

mac mini macbook pro macbook air
The data shows that the whole PC industry grew year-over-year, despite the global health crisis and component shortages. In Q1 of the year, Apple shipped roughly 6.7 million Macs, representing 8% of the whole market. Just a year ago in the same time period, Apple shipped around 3.2 million computers.

idc mac shipments q1 2021
Others such as Lenovo, HP, and Dell saw double-digit growth this quarter. However, Apple represented the most amount of growth. Ryan Reith, the vice president of IDC's Worldwide Mobile Device Tracker, says the industry has been hit due to ongoing component shortages but that the outlook remains positive.

The ongoing shortages in the semiconductor space only further prolong the ability for vendors to refill inventory and fulfill orders to customers. We believe a fundamental shift has occurred around the PC, which will result in a more positive outlook for years to follow.

Apple's performance this quarter follows significant growth in Q4 of last year, where thanks to new Apple silicon Macs, Apple saw a 31.3% increase in shipments compared to the same quarter a year prior.

In November, Apple released three brand new Macs powered by its own Apple silicon, driving sales amid work and learning from home procedures. Looking towards the coming months, Apple is expected to widen its lead in the PC industry thanks to the launch of redesigned MacBook Pros, iMacs, and more.

Update: Gartner has also shared its data for the first quarter of 2021, suggesting that Apple shipped an estimated 5.57 million Macs worldwide, up from the 3.75 million shipped in the year-ago quarter, marking growth of 48.6 percent.

In the U.S., Gartner believes Apple shipped just over 2 million Macs, up from 1.33 in the year-ago quarter for growth of 54.2 percent.

Tag: IDC

Popular Stories

WWDC25 Live Coverage Feature 1

WWDC 2025 Apple Event Live Keynote Coverage: iOS 26, macOS Tahoe, and More

Monday June 9, 2025 9:00 am PDT by
Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) starts today with the traditional keynote kicking things off at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time. MacRumors is on hand for the event and we'll be sharing details and our thoughts throughout the day. We're expecting to see a number of software-related announcements led by a design revamp across Apple's platforms that will also see the numbering of all of...
General Apps Messages Redux

iOS 26: New Messages and Phone App Features Leaked Ahead of WWDC

Friday June 6, 2025 7:27 am PDT by
Apple is planning to announce several new features for the Messages and Phone apps on iOS 26, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In a lengthy report outlining his WWDC 2025 expectations today, Gurman said that the two main changes in the Messages app will be the ability to create polls, as well as the option to set a background image within a conversation. 9to5Mac was first to report...
liquid glass

Apple Announces All-New 'Liquid Glass' Software Redesign Across iOS 26 and More

Monday June 9, 2025 10:13 am PDT by
Apple today announced a complete redesign of all of its major software platforms called "Liquid Glass." Announced simultaneously for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, visionOS, and CarPlay, Liquid Glass forms a new universal design language for the first time. At its WWDC 2025 keynote address, Apple's software chief Craig Federighi said "Apple Silicon has become dramatically more powerful...
maxresdefault

Everything Apple Announced at WWDC 2025 in 9 Minutes

Monday June 9, 2025 5:21 pm PDT by
At today's WWDC 2025 keynote event, Apple unveiled a new design that will inform the next decade of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS development, so needless to say, it was a busy day. Apple also unveiled a ton of new features for the iPhone, an overhauled Spotlight interface for the Mac, and a ton of updates that make the iPad more like a Mac than ever before. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel ...
iPadOS 26 Apple Newsroom

Apple Says iPadOS 26 is Compatible With These iPad Models

Monday June 9, 2025 11:22 am PDT by
Apple today announced that iPadOS 26 will be compatible with the iPad models listed below. iPadOS 26 features a new Liquid Glass design, a menu bar, improved app windowing, and more. iPadOS 26 supports the following iPad models:iPad Pro (M4) iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and later) iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation and later) iPad Air (M2 and later) iPad Air (3rd generation and...
iPhone 17 Air Size Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' Launching Later This Year With These 17 New Features

Friday June 6, 2025 6:17 am PDT by
While the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" is not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the ultra-thin device. Overall, the iPhone 17 Air sounds like a mixed bag. While the device is expected to have an impressively thin and light design, rumors indicate it will have some compromises compared to iPhone 17 Pro models, including worse battery life, only a single ...
iPhone Car Key WWDC 2025

Apple Says These 13 Vehicle Brands Will Soon Offer iPhone Car Keys

Monday June 9, 2025 2:38 pm PDT by
In 2020, Apple added a digital car key feature to its Wallet app, allowing users to lock, unlock, and start a compatible vehicle with an iPhone or Apple Watch. The feature is currently offered by select automakers, including Audi, BMW, Hyundai, Kia, Genesis, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and a handful of others, and it is set to expand further. During its WWDC 2025 keynote today, Apple said that 13...

Top Rated Comments

portland-dude Avatar
54 months ago
Couldn't resist the call of m1
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
thejadedmonkey Avatar
54 months ago
And functional keyboards, I'm sure that had an impact on upgrades too.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mozumder Avatar
54 months ago
The PC is back, baby!

RIP Smartphones 2007-2021.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nexusrule Avatar
54 months ago

Funny how updating tech products leads to better sales of those products, isn't it?

If only Apple had a CEO who had more interest in product than bottles of Pepsi with a 50 year old recipe.
Luckly they have a CEO that thought smart to invest a lot of resources and years in developing in house silicon and then expand it across all their product lines when it became strategic. If Apple after just 4-5 years of being limited by Intel lack of improvements is already in the middle of an architecture shift it’s not because they have a CEO that’s sleeping.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
quarkysg Avatar
54 months ago
Hopefully incentive for Apple to accelerate the Apple Silicon transition.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Captain Trips Avatar
54 months ago
Yep, between the M1 SoC, stimulus checks, and working from home I am not surprised to see Mac shipments improved.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)