iPad Drives Apple to Perch Atop List of Top-Selling PC Manufacturers

Late last year, research firm Canalys predicted that Apple might become the world's largest PC manufacturer during the fourth quarter of 2011 if tablets were counted alongside more traditional computers. With the major firms now having reported their sales numbers for the quarter, Canalys has pieced together the numbers to confirm that Apple has indeed taken the lead on the strength of the iPad.

Canalys today announced that Apple, after reporting stellar results, became the leading worldwide client PC vendor in Q4 2011. Apple shipped over 15 million iPads and five million Macs, representing 17% of the total 120 million client PCs shipped globally in Q4. Overall, the total client PC market, including desktops, netbooks, notebooks, and pads grew 16% year-on-year. Excluding pads, the client PC market declined 0.4%.

The report notes that tablets such as the iPad accounted for 22% of PC sales during the quarter, with the Amazon Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble Nook also contributing to the strong tablet performance.

white ipad 2 oblique
Based on data from Canalys and other research firms, it appears that the iPad would have been able to top the list even without the help of the Mac, which itself achieved record sales during the quarter. Apple sold 15.43 million iPads during the quarter, with Canalys, Gartner, and IDC all pegging non-tablet market leader HP's shipments between 14.7 and 15.3 million units.

Whether or not iPads and other tablets should be counted as PCs has become a vigorous debate as observers take differing views on how "personal computers" should be defined. But with Apple making the iPad "PC Free" by eliminating the need to sync to a computer via iTunes and increasing numbers of consumers relying on their iPads for everyday computer functionalities such as browsing, email and music, as well as a broad array of apps, lines between the two types of devices are becoming increasingly blurred.

Related Roundup: iPad
Tag: Canalys
Buyer's Guide: iPad (Caution)
Related Forum: iPad

Popular Stories

Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Rumored to Include These New Features for Your iPhone

Saturday March 1, 2025 11:00 am PST by
iOS 19 is still around three months away from being unveiled, but there are plenty of rumors about the upcoming update. Below, we recap iOS 19 rumors so far. Redesigned Camera App A leak earlier this year allegedly revealed a redesigned Camera app coming with iOS 19. On his YouTube channel Front Page Tech in January, Jon Prosser shared a video showing what the new Camera app will...
iOS 18

Apple Says iOS 18.4 Will Be Released in April With These New Features

Wednesday February 26, 2025 7:15 am PST by
In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 18.4 will be released in April. From the Apple News+ Food announcement:Coming with iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 in April, Apple News+ subscribers will have access to Apple News+ Food, a new section that will feature tens of thousands of recipes — as well as stories about restaurants, healthy eating, kitchen essentials, and more — from the...
Generic iPhone 17 Feature With Full Width Dynamic Island

Latest iPhone 17 Series CAD Images in Line With Redesign Rumors

Friday February 28, 2025 2:51 am PST by
Apple is expected to embrace a new camera system design for some models in its upcoming iPhone 17 series, and the latest purported CAD images don't deviate from what we have been hearing lately about Apple's new lineup. If you do not like the sound of an iPhone with a Google Pixel-style camera bar, look away now. Seasoned leaker Sonny Dickson shared the following images in a post on X...
apple intelligence black

These New Apple Intelligence Features Are Coming in iOS 18.4

Friday February 28, 2025 3:17 pm PST by
iOS 18.4 was supposed to bring new Apple Intelligence Siri features, but Apple ended up needing to pull those capabilities from the update to continue testing. There are fewer new Apple Intelligence additions now, but there are still some new features that will make the update worth installing when it comes out in April. Priority Notifications Apple introduced Priority Notifications back at ...
iphone 16e usb c feature

Apple Provides Reason for iPhone 16e's Lack of MagSafe

Friday February 28, 2025 4:39 am PST by
Apple has offered a reason why the iPhone 16e doesn't include MagSafe, one of the more notable omissions from its latest entry-level smartphone. According to Apple representatives who spoke to Daring Fireball's John Gruber, MagSafe is not included in the iPhone 16e because "most people in the iPhone 16e's target audience exclusively charge their phones by plugging them into a charging...
Apple MacBook Air 2 up hero 240304 feature

New MacBook Air Announcement Reportedly 'Imminent' — Here's When

Sunday March 2, 2025 5:40 am PST by
With the iPhone 16e now in the hands of customers, Apple reportedly plans to move on to its next product announcement in the coming days. Apple plans to announce new MacBook Air models with the M4 chip "as early as this week," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. "I expect the M4 MacBook Air to be introduced as early as this week," said Gurman, in a post shared on X today. "Inventory has ...
Apple AirPort Routers

Apple's Discontinued Line of AirPort Wi-Fi Routers Could Return in an Unexpected Way

Saturday March 1, 2025 10:00 am PST by
Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, Apple offered a line of Wi-Fi routers that it referred to as AirPort base stations. There was a standard AirPort Express, a higher-end AirPort Extreme with more advanced networking features, and an AirPort Time Capsule that doubled as an external storage drive for backing up a Mac with Time Machine. Apple discontinued the AirPort line in 2018, but the company...
apple c1

How Fast is Apple's First-Ever 5G Modem? The Results Are Surprising

Friday February 28, 2025 10:08 am PST by
iPhone 16e reviews are now out, and Apple's custom-designed C1 modem has been put to the test. The results so far are quite surprising, as the C1's speeds are not as slow compared to Qualcomm modems as originally expected. While the C1 does not support ultra-fast mmWave 5G in the U.S., it appears to offer comparable 5G performance to Qualcomm's Snapdragon X71 modem found in the iPhone 16,...
airpods pro purple

Here's When AirPods Pro 3 Are Rumored to Launch

Monday February 24, 2025 9:14 am PST by
According to a post on X today from a leaker known as Kosutami, Apple plans to launch AirPods Pro 3 in May or June this year. The leaker also claimed that an AirTag 2 will launch around the same time. Kosutami is best known as a collector of prototype Apple hardware, but they have occasionally shared accurate information about Apple's future product plans. For example, they accurately...

Top Rated Comments

Padraig Avatar
171 months ago
As someone on Engadget commented....

McDonalds is the largest PC manufacturer if you include Big Macs.

Honestly, Apple do well enough without having to pad their numbers.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bushido Avatar
171 months ago
so the iPod Touch is a PC too then?
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
coder12 Avatar
171 months ago
An iPad is a PC as much as a hammer is a screwdriver!
I have a hammer with a screwdriver in it :)

Also, to see a picture of my hammer/screwdriver, click here:
Image (http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/3369/photoon13112at502pm.jpg)
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dgree03 Avatar
171 months ago
Tell me specifically what you can get done on an "early 2000's" iBook that can't be done with an iPad ?

And puhleezz. Lets leave the cd-rom out of the equation. Everybody knows that's so yesterday.

Code? Full Photoshop suite? Have 2 simultaneous windows open? Run multiple operating systems? Use Office suite? Share data between all programs? Manage the OS file system? Attach and photo to an email while being in my email program?
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dgree03 Avatar
171 months ago
Personal Computer=PC

And there is no better PC(Personal Computer) than the iPad.

Deal with it.

People need to check their preconceptions about what a "PC" is at the door. We're living in an age of redefinitions and substantial market shifts.

I think the confusion comes from the fact that the iPad even after it became "PC Free" is still far more limited than even the lowest laptop "category" (Netbooks)

I think the definition of a tablet should fall heavily on the OS it runs first and then followed by the hardware it is used on.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
FrankieTDouglas Avatar
171 months ago
The industry NEEDS the iPad.

Which industry are you referring to? Because the people who need Mac Pros, certainly won't be able to replace what those systems do with these little tablet toys.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)