New Delhi, Jul 30 (IANS): Thanks to the introduction of Apple Silicon M1 chip, Macs had their greatest Q2 sales ever and reached six million shipments in the second quarter and 90 per cent Macs are powered by M1 chips, a report showed on Friday.

Apple in November last year introduced three new Mac devices -- MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac Mini -- powered by the Apple M1 system on a chip (SoC).

"The M1 can meet most of the general demands. However, it is not only a replacement for the Intel CPU but also allows Apple to develop new apps and create fully controlled ecosystems," said Brady Wang, Associate Director, Counterpoint Research.

"Furthermore, M1-powered Macs can help Apple improve its profit margin by increasing Mac store sales and lowering production expenses," he said in a statement.

Apple's 22 per cent (YoY) growth in the quarter supported its 7.5 per cent market share in the global PC market despite severe component shortages.

As Apple gradually shits its Mac devices to its own Silicon M1 chip, the purpose of the first generation of Apple Silicon is aimed at creating a new experience, to achieve the balance of performance and power consumption, instead of high computing.

Meanwhile, global PC demand continued to grow in Q2 amid component shortages, with shipments increasing 15 per cent (on-year) to 80.1 million during the quarter, according to Counterpoint Research's latest data.

Lenovo stayed ahead in the market in Q2 with 25 per cent share. HP's 23 per cent share marked its stability in the enterprise market, though its growth momentum was partly offset by decelerating Chromebook shipments.

Dell also leveraged the elevated commercial demand to push forward its market share to 17 per cent.

The global PC supply chain has been experiencing component shortages for the past several months, resulting in an imbalance between orders and actual shipments.

"This situation will not improve in the second half of the year. Therefore, we may not see normal seasonal trends in the PC market in 2021, as accumulated orders cannot be fulfilled anytime soon," the report mentioned.

"We expect double-digit shipment growth in 2021 but have reduced the number slightly to factor in component shortages and Chromebook sales slowdown," said research analyst William Li.