Apple Surpassed 10% Share of Notebook Market in 2015 Amid Industry Decline

[Thunderhawks]

Agreed, although I prefer the last 17" (2011). They will pry that machine from my cold, dead fingers. That one has TB, USB2 (just before USB 3 ), Gbit Ethernet, FW800, the inmensely underrated Expresscard slot (makes it expandable) and an Optical Drive I use as a second HD/SSD bay. Whew! It's 6.6lbs and still sexy as hell. The weaklings out there complaining about 3lbs need not apply.

I have absolutely ZERO retina machine envy.

That said, I'm hoping for a new 17" with TB3 and over 2TB of storage. That is the game changer I've been waiting for (no more bottlenecks), and until that happens I'll be holding on to "old-but-trusty".

Let's see what they do. Since my 2008 was still good I never looked further. Would like that TB port though.
BTW: Bought my 2008 on eBay.
I do not buy NEW Apple MBPs, only refurbs or eBay, and usually 1 year back in terms of model so it gets into my money strike zone.
Always bought the weakest configuration and then upgraded, but that is no longer possible.
I figure last years model are tested and if they are bad I would have read a review some place.
Just my quirky buying pattern.

 

[a.gomez]

seeing how they just reported -3% decline in Mac sales, Apple is also part of the "industry decline". The real story in that chart is Lenovo.

 

[LordVic]

seeing how they just reported -3% decline in Mac sales, Apple is also part of the "industry decline". The real story in that chart is Lenovo.

I'd say the big picture there is Toshiba.

9 million less laptops in 2 years.

They're eithre doing something incredibly right, or incredibly wrong. Either they're making products that don't ever need replacing, or they're bleeding users by the millions. impressive either way.

But yeah, The headline and usage of "market share" in absence of volume numbers is misleading. Apple Market share increased, while volumes accross the board decrease. they hit 10% because of companies like Toshiba who saw millions of less sales.

Apple's laptop sales were down from last year by about 600,000. Which was actually 4th largest decline in volume of sales of all those companies

With only Asus, Samsung and "others" seeing even minuscule to flat growth.

 

[dannyyankou]

And that's worldwide. Awesome.

 

[Dydegu]

HP and Lenovo continued to lead the notebook industry in 2015 with around 20% market share each, but Apple is now within striking distance of Dell for third place. The comparison is unbalanced, however, as Apple only sells three different MacBook models, with the cheapest being the entry-level 11-inch MacBook Air for $899, while most PC makers have a wide selection of models and price points.

This is precisely why the MacBook Air should stick around for a little while. iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch all have three options. iPhone will have three next month. Consumers like options.

Opportunities for major product introductions could come at WWDC, likely scheduled for mid-June, although smaller updates could come at any time via press release. New Macs could also debut at Apple's rumored March 15 media event if there is enough stage time alongside the iPhone 5se, iPad Air 3, and Apple Watch updates.

Get out of here with your "not enough stage time" nonsense. The only reason they wouldn't have enough stage time is if "One More Thing" is Tim Cook rolling out on stage in the Apple Car. And even then I'd hope the new MacBooks were in the trunk.

 

[DevNull0]

I look really forward to Apple introducing a Mac with its own designed processor. iPad Pro and iPhone 6s show what they can do with their knowledge. Just another generation, and it might be enough to power a MacBook Air. A10X or A11X maybe?

Why break compatibility with all existing mac binaries just for the sake of going to a weaker CPU that "might be enough to power a Macbook Air"?

It will mean a lot more profit for Apple, of course. But from the consumer's point of view you're getting a less capable machine and the headaches of having to reacquire all your software. At least in the switch from PPC to Intel, you were getting a much more powerful CPU so you could even emulate the older PPC binaries. Moving to a weaker CPU, that won't be possible.

 

[BuffaloTF]

I'll need to update mine this year, just trying to buy time for the refresh... 2007 white plastic Macbook still kicking on Snow Leopard... even though the magnet has destroyed the lip around where it shuts, and the battery swelled and is no longer in the thing for fear of my safety... yet it works like a charm otherwise. It serves the purpose over the HP I bought which was a colossal failure of a machine.

Seeing the Toshiba decline, I can't help but think the stories on a merger with Vaio and Fujitsu have some serious legs. The economies of scale gained there will go a very long way as this market shrinks to a more manageable number.

 

[winston1236]

There's still a HUGE business software gap on the Mac side.

At my company, we don't buy cheap PC hardware (HP, ASUS, Acer), we buy the best and most reliable hardware on the market.
Right now that is the Lenovo ThinkPad T series line of laptops.
MacBooks have nice hardware, but limitations in business software for OS X still relegate them to niche departments.
Mainly marketing and media.

Completely true. At my company one of our finance people is on a Mac and hates it because of this.

 

[satchmo]

Get out of here with your "not enough stage time" nonsense. The only reason they wouldn't have enough stage time is if "One More Thing" is Tim Cook rolling out on stage in the Apple Car. And even then I'd hope the new MacBooks were in the trunk.

Or if Tim rambles with a recap of new store openings and past quarter results. Thankfully, they haven't done much of this lately.
But somehow he'll still gush over his pet project, the AppleWatch. My guess it this resource hog is why so much of Apple's other products (both hardware and software) have stalled or have been less than stellar. Stick a fork in it, already.

 

[Jon Smythe]

They make among the best laptops available.

My only beef with with Apple (and many copy cats) is the ridiculously small and useless up/down arrow keys - until they put in full size keys for these very frequently used keys, I'm not buying.

 

[melendezest]

Why break compatibility with all existing mac binaries just for the sake of going to a weaker CPU that "might be enough to power a Macbook Air"?

It will mean a lot more profit for Apple, of course. But from the consumer's point of view you're getting a less capable machine and the headaches of having to reacquire all your software. At least in the switch from PPC to Intel, you were getting a much more powerful CPU so you could even emulate the older PPC binaries. Moving to a weaker CPU, that won't be possible.

Unfortunately, that's been Apple's MO for a while: "just good enough", while producing maximum profits for them with a less capable machine (see MacBook) for us.

For my part, I really hope they give us slam-bang, kick-ass machines this time around, but it feels like the hope train gets derailed year after frakkin' year.

 

[BeefCake 15]

Don't forget IBM is still in early phase of bringing in Macs instead of Lenovo...

 

[jscooper22]

Congratulations, glad to hear it. Now where are the MPs and Minis? My Xserves are getting senile.

 

[Glassed Silver]

Ugh, those story intro graphics are cruel. Everytime I see one I think "yay!" Apple has finally gotten off their %$# and updated their notebook line.

These days I'm happy when they don't touch something and ruin it whilst at the same time prolonging the timespan of active support/non-obsolete status of the product available now.

Glassed Silver:mac

 

[Zirel]

Unless Apple announces $599 laptops...

It's called the iPad, and it works well for office work, using the company's information system web front-end, and it's easy and cheap to manage. And it's increasingly better at those tasks.
[doublepost=1455649563][/doublepost]Also… Apple sells more way more iPhones than everyone combined sells PC's.

Yet people refuse to believe that the PC is dead.

 

[a.gomez]

I'd say the big picture there is Toshiba.

9 million less laptops in 2 years.

They're eithre doing something incredibly right, or incredibly wrong. Either they're making products that don't ever need replacing, or they're bleeding users by the millions. impressive either way.

But yeah, The headline and usage of "market share" in absence of volume numbers is misleading. Apple Market share increased, while volumes accross the board decrease. they hit 10% because of companies like Toshiba who saw millions of less sales.

Apple's laptop sales were down from last year by about 600,000. Which was actually 4th largest decline in volume of sales of all those companies.

With only Asus, Samsung and "others" seeing even minuscule to flat growth.

Yeah, data is data - not sure why bend it to make a silly feel good story out of it.

Well Toshiba is in that financial mess - and news is that they probably merging with Fujitsu and Vaio to make the largest computer company in japan. Hopefully they will also use Vaio's Azumino plant and give more Japan made options in the US.

 

[gugy]

oh I wish Apple would prioritize the Mac line up a bit more. Sure the iDevices bring the $ but the way Apple forgot about the Mac is pretty sad. The Mac Pro got a great update to then be forgot. The Mini is so outdated and the Macbook line needs a refresh.
Software also has been a problem.
I miss the Apple Computer early 2000's days.

 

[Sedulous]

Every time I am asked to sort out someone's PC I groan. They are still plagued with too many pop up windows and bloatware.

 

[Marx55]

Those are misleading figures. It is Apple (Mac) vs all the rest (Windows). Apple should release a Mac tablet to boost marker share.

 

[ThisBougieLife]

This.

I recently switched from a crappy, plastic Windows notebook to the MacBook Pro with Retina Display. And it is such an amazing machine. Really can't believe why I haven't done this earlier (apart from not having enough money of course). Build quality is incredible, the Retina Display is gorgeous, battery life is great and OS X works great when you've got other iOS devices. Yes, it's an expensive notebook, but you get what you pay for.

I can definitely see Apple having a comfortable 2016 as well in terms of notebook sales, and Mac sales in general.

The only real thing I want to see improved upon is cooling, but I know that would probably come at the expense of thinness and that's not going to happen. When using something like StreetView or watching a lot of 1080p videos on YouTube on my rMBP, the temps reach 200 degrees and the fans go haywire. And no standard laptop cooler really works with the MacBook. If they improved that, then I wouldn't really care about any other kind of "redesign".

 

[MI MacGuy]

I look really forward to Apple introducing a Mac with its own designed processor. iPad Pro and iPhone 6s show what they can do with their knowledge. Just another generation, and it might be enough to power a MacBook Air. A10X or A11X maybe?

I wouldn't be surprised if the processor that could power a MacBook or MacBook Air already exists. There's no reason to put that power into an iPad but if they can get that much power out of the A9X, I'm fairly positive that there's already a processor ready to go within Apple to power a laptop. Good riddance to Intel as far as I'm concerned.

Perhaps the new self-designed processor is warranting the refresh this year for the MacBook...

 

[ani4ani]

This isn't surprising. You have three real options for your notebook. One is the worst, most bloated, and most targeted OS, another is a web browser with little third party App support, and the third is a built for specific hardware OS which is less heavily targeted and more responsibly managed with minimal bloatware.

If Macs were less expensive, Windows would be in a lot more trouble.

That's why so many Macs have Windows on them is it?

 

[TheShadowKnows!]

There's still a HUGE business software gap on the Mac side.

At my company, we don't buy cheap PC hardware (HP, ASUS, Acer), we buy the best and most reliable hardware on the market.
Right now that is the Lenovo ThinkPad T series line of laptops.
MacBooks have nice hardware, but limitations in business software for OS X still relegate them to niche departments.
Mainly marketing and media.

Disagree ^^^

Lack of IT imagination (from your company's IT):
Given today's maturity of desktop OS virtualization (sorted in decresing preference order: Parallels, VMWare Fusion, Virtual Box), a virtualized MBPr/MBA hardware has no limitations on software.

Where is the niche?

 

[AtomicDusk]

There's still a HUGE business software gap on the Mac side.
MacBooks have nice hardware, but limitations in business software for OS X still relegate them to niche departments.
Mainly marketing and media.

I politely disagree. There's nothing I do at work I couldn't do more easily and more quickly do on a mac, and that includes extensive use of Office, Access, Visio, Projects, E1, SAP and statistics programs.

Omni Group makes some great software that replaces some specific office functionality (Visio and Projects specifically) and does it better.

FileMaker is on par with Access, and cross-platform.

And these solutions, just a few, are often as much, if not cheaper than their MS counterparts.

I've done enough cost analysis to know that the total cost of ownership for a mac is often cheaper than a comparable PC.

 

[Ries]

Disagree ^^^

Lack of IT imagination (from your company's IT):
Given today's maturity of desktop OS virtualization (sorted in decresing preference order: Parallels, VMWare Fusion, Virtual Box), a virtualized MBPr/MBA hardware has no limitations on software.

Where is the niche?

Right there in your post. You think IT is going to fork out twice the resources to manage two platforms per user? You think any sizeable company with structured IT will allow you to run a unmanaged windows in a VM if mac is their platform?