NPD: Apple Dominates Q1 Mobile PC Shipments

Apple dominated mobile PC shipments during the March quarter, according to a new report from NPD DisplaySearch. When combining laptops and tablets, NPD said that Apple had 22.5 percent of the market, well ahead of second place HP, which had 11.6 percent of the market, as shown in the chart below.

Q1 2012 Mobile PC Share

Chart by The Mac Observer, from DNP DisplaySearch Data

In unit terms, Apple shipped a combined total of 17.2 million units, according to NPD’s methodology. HP shipped 8.9 million units (all laptops), Acer 6.9 million, Lenovo 5.9 million, and former powerhouse Dell 5.6 million, as shown in the chart below.

Mobile Computing Unit Sales

Chart by The Mac Observer, from DNP DisplaySearch Data

NPD’s decision to combine tablets and laptops under the moniker of “Mobile PCs” began not too long after Apple’s disruptive iPad was released in 2010. When separating the two form factors, Apple didn’t make the top five manufacturers in laptops, while it owned 62.8 percent of the tablet market, as shown below.

Tablet Share

Chart by The Mac Observer, from DNP DisplaySearch Data

Apple shipped nearly 17.2 million mobile PCs in Q1’12, accounting for 118% Y/Y shipment growth, according to preliminary results from the latest NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report. Nearly 80% of Apple’s mobile PC shipments were iPads, which reached over 13.6 million units in the quarter, for 162% Y/Y growth.

“Tablets fueled Apple’s mobile PC growth, enabling the company to reach 22.5% share in Q1’12, nearly twice HP’s share. The other brands in the top five relied on notebook PC shipments to establish their positions,” NPD said in its report.

Note, too, that Barnes & Noble, which has seen success in the past with its Nook Color tablet, dropped out of the top five, while Amazon and its Kindle Fire fell from second place in the December quarter to third place in the March quarter Samsung is the new distant runner up in the tablet market, according to NPD.