All eyes are on the newly released Surface Pro 3 by Microsoft and its rivalry with the Apple bestseller tablet, the 13-inch MacBook Air. However, what has gone unnoticed by the tech world is how Lenovo has reportedly overtaken the sales of Apple's Macs in the U.S. PC market for the first time.

Engadget reports that Chinese PC-maker Lenovo grabbed the third place in the PC market from Apple, behind HP and Dell. The claim is based on sales data for the last three months, believed to be culled from IDC.

A separate Gartner report acknowledged that Lenovo logged the strongest growth in Q1 2014 among the top 5 vendors, enjoying a 10.9 per cent expansion of its shipments and further confirming its emerging position as global leader in the PC market.

The report, which use preliminary estimates, placed total worldwide PC shipments at 76.5 million units for the first 3 months of 2014, of which 16.9 per cent belongs to Lenovo with 12.9 million units, followed by HP with a market share of 16 per cent (12.2 million units) and Dell 12.5 per cent share (9.5 million units).

Lenovo is expected to further widen its lead in the global market with its recent purchase of Motorola Mobility from Google for $2.9 billion.

However, in the U.S. market, Gartner said Apple was still on third place with a market share of 10.8 per cent and shipments of 1.521 million units, while Lenovo is a close fourth place with its 10.4 per cent market share (1.459 million units).

Meanwhile, SlashGear's comparison of the New Surface Pro 3 and MacBook Air found the Window's tablet is thinner than the Apple tablet and fits 6 per cent more on its smaller display of 12 inches compared to the MacBook's larger screen.