Mac sales fly as PC declines did the M1 chip save Apple?

Date:
Tue, 12 Apr 2022 11:25:51 +0000

Description:
Despite the growth of PC during the Covid-19 pandemic, Apple has started to claw back some of that market share.

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If you've been keeping your eyes out for a deal on one of the latest MacBooks then you might be one of many jumping on the Apple hype wagon, with Mac sales starting to soar while some PC brands seeing large year-on-year declines.

This comes from a global shipping estimates report conducted by Garter , that claims Apple shipped an estimated 7 million Macs during Q1 2022, a 8.6
percent growth from 6.5 million shipped in Q1 2021.

"After an unprecedented Chromebook surge in 2020 and early 2021, driven by demand from the US educational market, Chromebook growth has tempered," saidMikako Kitagawa, research director at Gartner.

"It was a challenging quarter for the PC and Chromebook market to achieve growth, asthis time last yearthe PC market registered its highest growth in decades."

While Apple only ranks as the fourth most popular manufacturer, these estimates show a sharp decline from popular brands such as Lenovo and HP,
with a decline of 12.6% and 17.8% respectively. Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 1Q22 Company 1Q22 Shipments 1Q22 Market Share (%) 1Q21 Shipments 1Q21 Market Share (%) 1Q22-1Q21 Growth (%) Lenovo 18,258 23.6
20,882 25.0 -12.6 HP Inc. 15,863 20.5 19,295 23.1 -17.8 Dell 13,739 17.7 13,084 15.7 5.0 Apple 7,005 9.0 6,449 7.7 8.6 Asus 5,594 7.2 4,640 5.6 20.6 Acer 5,531 7.1 5,850 7.0 -5.5 Others 11,503 14.8 13,393 16.0 -14.1

Despite the decline, Lenovo and HP still hold a greater market share than Apple, likely thanks to both brands having lines of budget-friendly hardware that has greater appeal to folks needing an affordable way to stay online.

Apple, by contrast, is undoubtedly a more 'premium' brand with the most affordable laptop in its current lineup being the MacBook Air (M1, 2020)
which at $999 / 999 / AU$1,499 can be over twice the price of some of
Lenovo's offerings.

Still, the popularity of Apple's in-house silicon could be at least partly responsible for the increase in shipments, with people scrambling to buy products like the M1 -powered MacBook Pro 14-inch shortly after it was unveiled last year.

We should also note both Dell and Asus saw impressive growth this year, so Apple isn't the only brand enjoying some time in the sun. IDC released its
own estimates on April 10 that tell a very similar story, though both Garter and IDC's reports are based on estimated shipments and aren't reflective of actual sales data and it's unlikely we'll get a more accurate look at the market share given that Apple no longer provides unit sales for its Mac, iPhone or iPad lines. Analysis: What's actually going on?

The release of the M1 SoC (system-on-a-chip) made some serious waves in the computing market. While Macs and MacBooks have always been a luxury product, poor design choices such as the controversial touch bar and removal of ports made them a hard sell to some markets.

The M1 (and subsequent M1 Pro, M1 Max and M1 Ultra ) provided Apple hardware
a phoenix-like rise from the ashes, enough so that they frequently top 'best of' lists just as the MacBook Air does on our own lineup of the best laptops on the market.

Still, these shipping estimates don't mean that Apple has clawed back that market share just from providing great products. There are many other factors to include, such as the global chip shortage and sudden rise in hybrid or fully remote work and study caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Western European PC market grew 42% year-on-year back in 2021, which IDC believes was fueled by locked-down consumers needing more devices at home to accommodate. As such, ChromeBook sales also surged and have since started rapidly declining in recent months as both work and educational environments start to return to pre-pandemic states.

It's also likely that gaming and entertainment played a part, albeit a small one as folks turned to laptops and desktop PCs while they remained inside, which could explain why Dell and Asus, two brands that are especially notable for PC gaming hardware, have also seen increased sales over the last two years.

In short, there's no specific reason that Apple is doing so well in the
global laptop market right now, but it's certainly not undeserving of that success.

The wider PC market will need to work hard against the might of the M1
silicon and hope that the fruit-themed brand doesn't release a truly budget-friendly MacBook to compete in the workforce and educational markets, or worse yet, an M1-powered gaming system. Heres our rundown of the best workstations out there

Via MacRumors



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/mac-sales-fly-as-pc-declines-did-the-m1-chip-sa ve-apple/


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