Apple Sold Fewest Macs in Any Quarter Since 2010 as Nearly Entire Lineup Was Outdated

[HarryWild]

iPad Mini 3/4 still has the A8 SoC and going on 4 years without updated SoC! LOL! Still sell around 18% of total iPad sales however. Apple just does not bring itself to do an update yet! Rumor has it that Apple is planning a 2020 release, which put it nearly 6 years without an SoC update!

 

[cds29]

The MacOS on a Surface Studio would be pretty cool...Might be time to open it up again...

 

[citysnaps]

Maybe we childish people simply want updated computers with modern technologies, like USB-C and up-to-date CPUs and GPUs. We're not being unreasonable to think it's ridiculous that Apple is still selling computers that are over four years old, in the case of the Mac Pro.

Vote with your wallet and find happiness with another manufacturer who reliably delivers and supports what you want?

 

[pete2106]

I am more than sure that they are building up to a big event in September where they refresh the entire Mac desktop and laptop line with new machines and at some point if not at the same time, introduce a Mac refresh program similar to the iPhone refresh program.

 

[AmazingRobie]

DELETED

 

[timber]

Well, I think these are goods news.

What signs would Apple take from having more sales with a overpriced, underperforming, troubled and outdated line up?

They may care less about the Mac (whatever, if they keep caring the same the Mac will be gone in a few years) or they may finally increase their efforts.

They don't need that much investment. The Mac and MacOSX despite all its problems are still... pretty awesome.

 

[ghostface147]

I think most buyers are waiting for the fall updates and possible new MacBooks (sub 1k). Good thing for Mac users is that the devices have longevity, so they can wait a few months more to update.

I don't think they may have the longevity they used to. My 2011 17" MacBook Pro is more user serviceable than the new ones. Need a bigger HDD/SSD or it died? Swap it out. Need to replace a bad memory module? Go ahead and swap it out. Bad keyboard or trackpad, buy a part and swap it out. That increases longevity. The brand new ones don't allow it. Bad memory, new logic board. SSD is sucking it up? New logic board. Keyboard fails? Too bad, replace the entire top assembly from Apple (for now). So while mine is going strong enough after 7 years of use, I don't think the new ones will last that long. I did have two logic board replacements because of the motherboard issue and a replacement battery on Apple's dime, just to be upfront.

 

[redheeler]

People demand yearly mac refreshes akin to the iPhone, but don't understand there's no groundbreaking hardware advances to justify it. If people want to shell out 3K every year for the sake of a new laptop shell, maybe apple should oblige them.

Intel releases new processors appropriate for Macs every year, with some occasional exceptions. Right now the iMacs (aside from iMac Pro) are already using outdated processors despite having been refreshed last year.

 

[Goner259er]

When you can get a windows laptop with 8 gig of ram, 2TB HDD for around or under 700, eventually people will want to learn to use that OS and save themselves a good chunk of change especially when there is no upgrade and still costing 1100 plus

 

[Lesser Evets]

This is an ultra-giant NO-DUH.

Update the computers, Cook!

 

[Bornee35]

I really hope so. I just think Apple’s approach will be to keep the Mac platform on life support and barely bother with it. Just look at their public outreach to the pro market by announcing the Mac Pro. That was such a positive step. Then they go ahead and depreciate OpenCL/GL which means Nvidia cards support will never happen, despite the fact most professionals would kill for CUDA enabled Macs.

We'd probably hit the other side of the complaint spectrum. People would freak out over apple trying to sell new machines with a .2 GHz improvement and not enough ram. Moore's law is hitting a bottleneck.

 

[Yvan256]

Very misleading headline ignores PC sales trends as a whole.

As we see here, computer sales are on a downward trend as a whole across the entire industry. Everyone is at their lowest sales level in years. Not just Apple. Dell, HP, everyone.

That's because before 2010-2011, the only good way to use the Internet was to have a computer.

The first iPad was released on April 3, 2010, notice how computer sales started going down after 2011. I think that's due to a combination of factors: the iPad, Android tablets and the fact that post-2010, computers didn't get as fast as before, negating the need to upgrade.

As an example, my main computer is still a mid-2010 Mac mini (2.4GHz Core 2 Duo) and after upgrading the RAM to 16GB and replacing the HDD with a small 128GB SSD, it still does what I need it to do. Granted it's getting slow because of the bloated javascript librairies people use everywhere these days but other than that it works just fine.

If I wanted to upgrade to a newer Mac mini, I would have no choice but to pick the 2.6GHz Dual-Core i5 to have any SSD option. With 16GB (same as I have) and a 256GB SSD (twice of what I have) I'd have to pay 1329$CAD. That's an insane price to ask for a dual-core computer in 2018. At that price I'd expect a minimum of quad-core, maybe 32GB RAM and at least a 512GB SSD. And don't bother comparing that to MacBook prices because those need a keyboard, battery, charger and display.

 

[jimothyGator]

Vote with your wallet and find happiness with another manufacturer who delivers what you want?

Unfortuantely, there is no such manufacturer. I want a modern, upgradeable computer which runs macOS out-of-the-box. So I've voted to keep my wallet shut. Based on sales numbers, it looks like I'm not the only one.

Will I one day capitulate and go non-macOS or build a hackintosh? Perhaps. But again, I'm not the unreasonable one thinking it's ridiculous that Apple is selling 3-4 year old desktops.

 

[MacLoveMacHate]

"What’s a computer?"

 

[citysnaps]

I wish people would stop looking at how old a technology is vs how a technology is used. Just because something is old doesn't mean it's bad. If you're thinking like that, why are you still using processor technology from four decades ago? Why are you still using keyboards invented at the beginning of the 1900's?

Let me start by saying that I'm not against USB-C, I'm against USB-C everywhere.

It's a waste to put USB-C ports everywhere. It makes the computer more expensive because it requires more CPU lanes for every single USB-C port. If you want more USB-C ports, you automatically need a more expensive processor. Not every device needs that much bandwidth. The bandwidth for a single USB-C port could be used to have multiple USB 3.1 ports.

Let's take a keyboard and mouse as the perfect examples of why USB-C everywhere is a waste. The bandwidth required for a USB keyboard and mouse is so low that those devices are usually still USB 1.1

Being okay with USB-C everywhere is like designing a new street in a city and having two car-wide lanes for cars, two car-wide lanes for bicycles and two car-wide lanes for pedestrians. It's nonsense.

USB-C is a superior interface. And stoked my 2017 MBP has four ports, permitting a thinner and more compact laptop.

 

[Bornee35]

Intel releases new processors appropriate for Macs every year, with some occasional exceptions. Right now the iMacs (aside from iMac Pro) are already using outdated processors despite having been refreshed last year.

would you spend 6K+ a year for a mediocre cpu boost that has negligible effects for the majority of users?

 

[citysnaps]

Unfortuantely, there is no such manufacturer. I want a modern, upgradeable computer which runs macOS out-of-the-box. So I've voted to keep my wallet shut. Based on sales numbers, it looks like I'm not the only one.

Will I one day capitulate and go non-macOS or build a hackintosh? Perhaps. But again, I'm not the unreasonable one thinking it's ridiculous that Apple is selling 3-4 year old desktops.

We all have important choices to make in life. Choose what works best for you. I'm sure happy every time I use my 2017 MBP.

 

[bkkcanuck8]

$6700 for an i9 4TB 32GB MacBook Pro, yet they give no love to the non-TouchBar versions. No wonder Apple users are feeling jaded lately.

IMHO, they gave no love to the escape model of the MacBook Pro because it is going to be absorbed into the new segment that will replace both the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro escape models.

The reason for the sudden "correction" in sales - is likely a reaction to the rumours that their entire line is going to be refreshed (freezing sales). They started at the "high-end" side (along with the iMac Pro and the pending Mac Pro) is suppose to deal with the complaints by the 'pro' market segment. The 'consumer' friendly end ... still needs to be refreshed before unit sales return to a reasonable norm for Apple. My guess is that the next quarter will be equally soft since there is a good likelihood we won't see that until the quarter following (October). Unit sales tend to be driven by the more affordable end.

I am in the market for a new Mac, but I really cannot decide until they release the rest of the models (probably will wait to see the Mac Pro).

 

[dspdoc]

I’m afraid Apple will use this as an excuse to focus even less on the Mac.

Scary but valid point.

 

[skinned66]

I know I'm the minority here but I may very well never buy a Mac ever again.

 

[kemal]

Apple are working something that will make one want to buy a Mac.

 

[Yvan256]

Vote with your wallet and find happiness with another manufacturer who reliably delivers and supports what you want?

I'm tired of this "vote with your wallet" rhetoric since it makes no sense. We're not talking about cars, which can go on any road. We're not talking about televisions, which can display things from any source.

We're talking about computers and operating systems. A Mac is not only hardware, it's also macOS and software. If we could get macOS on computers from other companies, we wouldn't be complaining - at least not about Macs.

We can't vote with our wallet since only Apple can provide macOS. What we want is macOS on reliable and relatively up-to-date hardware at decent prices. So all we can do is see what Apple does and so far we can only complain that there's no updates.

 

[indychris]

Mac? Is that still a thing? Is that the old antique thing that used to virtually own the video and graphic production world but was obsoleted in lieu of shiny little devices that people without jobs would wait in line for days on end? I think I remember seeing those once.

 

[Naimfan]

Outdated and overpriced.

Exactly.

I have a 2012 Mac Mini (i7 quad) and a 2014 2.6 i5 next to each other. The 2012 leaves the 2014 for dead. Graphics are the only area where the 2014 has an edge, and it's minimal.

It's hard to believe anyone would buy a 2014 Mini new - slow, not upgradable, and absurdly overpriced.

 

[redheeler]

would you spend 6K+ a year for a mediocre cpu boost that has negligible effects for the majority of users?

I don't upgrade my iPhone every year, and wouldn't do so with my Mac either. But it's important for those who are using older hardware / due for an upgrade to expect and get current hardware and performance in their new Mac.

Also, this year's core increase from quad-core to hex-core is more than a mediocre CPU boost. More like the biggest multi-core performance gain in any single generation since the first Core i-series in late 2009.