According to a report from DisplaySearch released yesterday, Cupertino-based Apple now has 26.6% share of the mobile PC market thanks to impressive fourth quarter shipments of iPads and MacBooks. Apple topped number two HP by shipping a total of 23.4 million units. This is nearly three times the amount reported by HP. Apple’s iPad made up 18.7 million units of this number helping the company capture 59.1% of the market for tablets. As a comparison, Amazon captured 16.7% of the tablet market by shipping 5.3 million Kindle Fire units. Samsung continues to control 6.7% of the market, having shipped 2.1 million units. Apple’s 26.6% share in Q4 is largely due to its dominant position in tablet PCs. The other brands in the top five market share rankings relied almost exclusively on notebook PC shipments to establish their positions.

NPD DisplaySearch Senior Analyst, Richard Shim said, “Mobile PC brands read the writing on the wall in the fourth quarter. Consumer demand for notebooks was expected to be weak following modest back-to-school results, especially with the expected launch of Windows 8 on the horizon, and increasing interest in tablet PCs. As a result, brands focused their typical holiday price cuts on tablets to boost demand.”

Although the numbers sound impressive for Apple, many disagree with counting iPads along with laptops. Apple doesn’t think the iPad is a mobile PC either. CEO Tim Cook has been very open about the fact that he expects there to eventually be some cannibalization of Macs due to the iPad, though it may already be happening to Windows PCs.