A new report from IDC reveals that the demand for Apple's MacBooks are growing and its biggest competitor, the ultrabooks are not faring that well in the market.

The same report from IDC also revealed that the PC market is already on its seventh quarter of experiencing little to no growth. Gartner, another research firm, also had the same findings stating that PC shipments were down by 0.1% if compared to last year's figures. This is in contrary to the prediction that Intel said at the beginning of this year.

Intel predicted that ultrabooks would be able to have a 40% market share in the consumer laptop market by this year. Ultrabooks are thin and lightweight Windows-based laptops that were designed in order to compete with Apple's MacBook Air.

Jay Chou, an analyst from IDC, remarked that for the first half of 2012, there were only a total of 500,000 ultrabooks that were shipped worldwide. This figure was not even close to the amount that Intel earlier predicted. Chou also added that "the volume isn't there and it's going to be way below what Intel had hoped for."

Despite this obstacle, there is a chance that ultrabooks might still have a bigger share in the market by next year. The launch of Windows 8 and the response regarding this new OS from Microsoft can be a game-changer for ultrabooks. Windows 8 is the newest OS from Microsoft and Microsoft is hoping that this new OS would help PCs in reclaiming their stand in the market. Chou also added that "We might hit a million ultrabooks this year. The future really lies in 2013 and how well it jells with Windows 8." IDC disclosed that an estimated amount of 225 million laptops would be shipped by the end of 2012.

As for Apple's MacBooks, recent figures reveal a considerable growth for this quarter. The research report from Gartner shows that Apple's shipments grew by 4.3% for this year. Chou remarked that "the MacBook Air is a good part of Apple's business. It's had good growth". The figures reveal that unit shipments for Apple's MacBooks grew from 2.8 million for this quarter as compared to 2.75 million units from the same quarter of last year.