Apple Retains Fourth Place for Q3 Notebook PC Shipments, Industry Growth Limited by Supply Constraints

[MacRumors]

Apple retained its position as the fourth-largest global notebook PC vendor in the third quarter of 2020, shipping six million units in total, according to a new report by Strategy Analytics.

Apple shipped 1.7 million more notebook PC units in the third quarter of this year compared to last year, achieving growth of 39 percent. This is in line with significant increases across the industry, which has seen an average 34 percent growth. HP surpassed Lenovo for the first time in years by a slim margin to regain leadership in the notebook PC market. Dell kept its position as the third-largest notebook PC vendor, followed by Apple.

The market saw 34 percent year-on-year shipment growth as a whole, and was actually constrained by limited supply in the face of record demand.

"The third quarter would have been even more productive for some vendors if they were able to deliver more devices to meet high demand. Supply will remain a key concern as demand is expected to stay high... consumers have started their purchases before the holiday season to prepare for the new 'normal' of working and studying from home," Strategy Analytics Senior Research Analyst Chirag Upadhyay said.

Apple has been contending with higher than expected demand and a range of component shortages. As a result, the company is now facing supply constraints across multiple devices, leading to long wait times for orders. At the end of last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook told investors that the company is "working really, really hard" to remedy the ongoing supply issues. Going into the fourth quarter, vendors' ability to meet increasing demand will reportedly be a key factor in the extent of growth.

Article Link: Apple Retains Fourth Place for Q3 Notebook PC Shipments, Industry Growth Limited by Supply Constraints

 

[djcerla]

Will soon be at the top spot.

It’s iPhone vs. Nokia in 2007 all over again.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Soon to be #1.

Welcome to Arm Based 💻

 

[Spock]

If the Apple silicon transition eventually leads to lower prices, these numbers will skyrocket. I don’t think we will ever see a MacBook as cheap as something like the entry level iPad but if a MacBook could have a new starting price point of $699 or $799 it would be a game changer.

 

[thebeans]

Will soon be at the top spot.

It’s iPhone vs. Nokia in 2007 all over again.

Hahaha. Nope. I love Apple. Have iPhones, iPads, a desktop and a MacBook in our house. But Apple will NEVER be at the top of this list. They are simply too expensive to ever be #1

 

[Return Zero]

If the Apple silicon transition eventually leads to lower prices, these numbers will skyrocket. I don’t think we will ever see a MacBook as cheap as something like the entry level iPad but if a MacBook could have a new starting price point of $699 or $799 it would be a game changer.

I was hoping they would bring back the $499 Mac mini. I'd even buy it with an A14 instead of an M1 (just for casual use, don't need quad performance cores).

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

If the Apple silicon transition eventually leads to lower prices, these numbers will skyrocket. I don’t think we will ever see a MacBook as cheap as something like the entry level iPad but if a MacBook could have a new starting price point of $699 or $799 it would be a game changer.

The new Air looks like a viable replacement for my current (work issued) MBP. The only issues is... is there a JVM/does IntelliJ run on the Air? And also, I want a bigger screen.

Since Apple is going all in on Apple Silicon, I assume the JVM and IntelliJ will be coming... then it's just a matter of buying the biggest screen.

Honestly... we could reach the point where a 13" MBP is cheaper than a 13" iPad Pro (with accessories). Or are we there already?

 

[rafark]

It’s amazing that to this day and age companies are still facing supply constraints. It’s the 21st century!

 

[The_Interloper]

Will soon be at the top spot.

Soon to be #1.

Not at Apple prices they won't.

 

[UltimaKilo]

Not at Apple prices they won't.

Exactly. Apple might even release a cheaper MacBook in the future which will help their sales, but still be too expensive to ever be at the top of this list.

 

[lkrupp]

Hahaha. Nope. I love Apple. Have iPhones, iPads, a desktop and a MacBook in our house. But Apple will NEVER be at the top of this list. They are simply too expensive to ever be #1

They may never be #1 but they are already the Best, no doubt about it. The neckbeards and trolls who spout tech specs and performance have almost nothing left to crow about. Both iPhones and Macs are now outperforming the competition in the often touted benchmark area.

 

[Return Zero]

The new Air looks like a viable replacement for my current (work issued) MBP. The only issues is... is there a JVM/does IntelliJ run on the Air? And also, I want a bigger screen.

Since Apple is going all in on Apple Silicon, I assume the JVM and IntelliJ will be coming... then it's just a matter of buying the biggest screen.

Honestly... we could reach the point where a 13" MBP is cheaper than a 13" iPad Pro (with accessories). Or are we there already?

We're there already.

$1099 + $349 = $1448 for 256GB 12.9" iPP w/ magic keyboard.
$1299 for 13" MBB.

Education price:
$999 + $329 = $1328 for iPP
$1199 for MBP

Even going 128GB (subtract $100) on the iPad still leaves you more expensive than the MBP in either case.

 

[lkrupp]

It’s amazing that to this day and age companies are still facing supply constraints. It’s the 21st century!

What rock have you been living under? Ever hear of the global pandemic that has shut down factories all over the world.

 

[dannyyankou]

I think people are delusional if they think the new chips will be enough to make Apple #1. They’ll see growth for sure, but let’s not get crazy.

 

[fishmongerer]

Will soon be at the top spot.

It’s iPhone vs. Nokia in 2007 all over again.

Why does that matter?

 

[adamw]

The supply constraints (shortages) are a big problem for Apple and many other electronic suppliers. Since the virus broke out earlier this year (circa February/March 2020) it has been really tough to get many kinds of electronics without paying a high premium. I pray that the new Macs with the M1 chip will be in much better supply. I tried to order a custom Mac Mini yesterday, and they had an almost 4 week wait for delivery. I ordered a custom (16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) M1 Mac Mini a half hour after the Apple announcement event, and am still waiting, but it showed a ~10 day delivery time.

 

[XXPP]

Most HP, lenovo, Dell machines are $400-$600 crap. Great job Apple.

 

[Stella]

Growth? But how can this be? Apple keeps telling us we are in the Post PC Era, and PCs are old and outdated, and that everyone needs an iPad? /s

;-)


add:
I'm sure that Apple silicon will increase Apple sales, but to think they'll get to #1 is not going to happen. Business sales, which Apple requires to get to #1 isn't going to happen. Businesses are not going to drop Windows and start buying Apple laptops.

 

[Stella]

Most HP, lenovo, Dell machines are $400-$600 crap. Great job Apple.

Crap? Depends on you are using it for. For light tasks such as web browsing, school work, email etc , a $400 to $600 machine is good enough. Why would you need a $1000k or more for this, it would be overkill.

 

[Stella]

The new Air looks like a viable replacement for my current (work issued) MBP. The only issues is... is there a JVM/does IntelliJ run on the Air? And also, I want a bigger screen.

Since Apple is going all in on Apple Silicon, I assume the JVM and IntelliJ will be coming... then it's just a matter of buying the biggest screen.

Honestly... we could reach the point where a 13" MBP is cheaper than a 13" iPad Pro (with accessories). Or are we there already?

Jetbrains progress:

JBR support for new Apple ARM chips : JBR-2526

Current Status: Builds for testing are available. IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate 2020.3: https://download.jetbrains.com/idea/ideaIU-203.6494-aarch64.dmg IntelliJ IDEA Community 2020.3: https://download.jetbrains.com/idea/ideaIC-203.6494-aarch64.dmg…

youtrack.jetbrains.com

I saw a post ( can't find it ) that Jetbrains estimate they'll have a working JVM before end of year.

 

[Edsel]

A 48% quarterly growth Y/Y for Others Notebook Company is pretty amazing!

 

[mdnz]

Will soon be at the top spot.

It’s iPhone vs. Nokia in 2007 all over again.

Sure, my mom will drop €1200 on an entry level Macbook (not).

If you want to be top spot you need to have a (very) budget option.

 

[Art Mark]

Am I correct that the numbers are entirely conjecture as none of thee companies release actual sales numbers? And with PC vendors are we talking end sales or stuffing the channel? Or are they somehow tracking actual sales? I take it they reverse out earnings?

 

[ValueArb]

Hahaha. Nope. I love Apple. Have iPhones, iPads, a desktop and a MacBook in our house. But Apple will NEVER be at the top of this list. They are simply too expensive to ever be #1

agree, but they are likely already #1 in laptop revenues, since Apples ASP is nearly 3x industry averages. Units counts everything down to garbage $200 laptops.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Am I the only one surprised that HP and Lenovo top this list?

In my experience, HP is just straight up garbage. Although prices are low, quality is lower.

Lenovo is okay except for the fact they've repeatedly pre-installed spyware on their computers... I'd think that instantly rules out any organization or professional from buying them. Seems like that'd leave only people who don't actually need computers at all, so IDK why they're being purchased.

Dell is the company I'd expect to top the list. Somewhere below Apple quality but at notably more affordable prices.

Also... are Chromebooks being considered here? I'd expect them to be pretty big, but I guess that's not a specific manufacturer...