I see the 80% drop .. your correct. But It doesn't tell the whole story. Apple is no longer just a computer company. Computer sales are only approx 8%-10% of Apple these days. Computer sales make-up in the area of 75%-80% for Lenovo.
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Apple's Mac Sales Drop in Q4 2018 Amid Worldwide PC Shipment Decline
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I see the 80% drop .. your correct. But It doesn't tell the whole story. Apple is no longer just a computer company. Computer sales are only approx 8%-10% of Apple these days. Computer sales make-up in the area of 75%-80% for Lenovo.
Somebody still needs to write software for those "new" personal computers, and unless Apple ports their development software to Linux or Windows, that will still happen on those no longer loved macOS machines.
I doubt they will ever spin off the Mac division into a separate company. They could open source macOS and just drop the hardware production. Win-Win for everybody. But that won't ever happen either. Eventually, they will just let the Mac die and we will see an iPad Pro "Developer Edition" that can run Xcode and that might properly support an external keyboard, mouse and display.
Truth be told: This whole Mac topic is not really exciting or interesting anymore, neither is the tablet or phone market. The Mac as a (professional or development) platform has been dead for a long while now, and phones and tablets have become rather uninteresting commodity products in a saturated, matured market.
They waited so long to update it that many of us caved in and bought a pc long ago. Also the pricing: I’m willing to pay a bit more for a Mac, but when the cheapest Mac Pro is likely to start at 3K, no thanks. Computers have improved so much that most of us just need an upgradeable tower, not a Xeon with dual workstation-grade graphics card and ECC.
I mean, I don’t love my pc, but for the price it runs circles around pretty much any Mac, and it runs all the software I need just fine. Would I prefer OS X? Yes definitely. Would I pay three times as much for it? No.
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The pattern shown here is obviously a composite of the following things that are happening:
- Macs are getting more expensive and are less competitive in specs to other platforms.
- Other platforms (windows) have invested in quality of the OS and are close to OSX quality. So, competition is heating up.
- We are seeing the effects of the trade war as components and full products get price bumps and these costs being transferred to the consumer.
- We are at the start of an economic downturn which slows consumer spending down.
If they count shipments instead of actual sales, I bumped this graph considerably by buying and returning five faulty MBPs. At least one other forum user went through six. That will be 11 shipped MBPs with 0 sales.
On the other hand the only reason I ever got an iPhone in the first place is because of its tight integration with OS X. If they kill the Mac, it changes everything.
I have seen few iMac Pros here in China being used as computers for the cashier in some clothing shops LOL. I am 100% sure they were iMac Pros.
It's funny you mention shipments .. I was going to say how it's really only a part of the whole equation. Most people on the forum would be surprised to know that even with the small market share Apple has (7.2%) vs Lenovo's (24.2%), Apple still has Annual revenue of Approx. 25-26 Billion vs Lenovo's Approx. 32-34 Billion.
W10 doesn't suck, it's run brilliantly on a laptop i have since it launched. It runs because it's a tool and I don't try to f**k about with it. Max OS X is the same, it's a tool, don't try and f**k about with it, it will generally run perfectly fine.
This horse hockey about Apple Computers lasting longer is comical. You spend $2000 on a laptop, you are sure as hell going to take better car of it than a $400 Special from Best Buy aren't you. Has nothing to do with superior build quality or better parts.
Falling sales won't change anything. Apple have increased priced over the rate of inflation for years. Until they see a significant drop in sales (25% or more) they will carry on with the current update and pricing policy.
This horse hockey about Apple Computers lasting longer is comical. You spend $2000 on a laptop, you are sure as hell going to take better car of it than a $400 Special from Best Buy aren't you. Has nothing to do with superior build quality or better parts.
Falling sales won't change anything. Apple have increased priced over the rate of inflation for years. Until they see a significant drop in sales (25% or more) they will carry on with the current update and pricing policy.
Prices of the RAM and prices of the SSD are ridiculous. Base model prices are OK, but once you start checking the boxes, price climbs up like a thermometer in a hot oil. Because base models are worth for nothing more than browsing the Web and working in MS Word.
Macbook - drop the price £3-500 and it would destory the low end windows market.
Macbook Air = Completely different product category in arguably a no better form factor the dimmest display in the lineup.
The old air had i5s and i7 options and in 2013 were powerful for their form factor. Now they are very similar in form with slow processors so its not feasible to do more intensive work and they are stupid expensive.
Macbook Pro = Great machines but at 40% more than the competition. 13" is the go to but at £2000 with no dedicated graphics they are just too expensive. £4000 for a mid range 15" when the same spec Dell XPS can be had for £2300. There is glaring and extortionate price differences. Performance is very similar.... Also the thermal sham which isnt really apples fault but intels promises they didnt deliver on thermal properties, still im sure that didnt help sales. Last comment the keyboard and ports. Keyboard... give us one that wont break, Ports im all for TB3 but give us the SD slot and one legacy USB A port. Ive changed all my cables over but if im out and about seeing a client and they have a memory stick you have to have a dongle. That aint pro in my book
iMac = Good price, thermally constrained. Put a decent fan in it apple and for god sake put new chips in it. Really isnt that hard. Get rid of the mechanical and fusion drives, the base line 21 people are buying a machine that runs like sh*t out the box because Mojave isnt designed to run off a slow mechanical HDD. The speed difference is mind blowing 150mb/s on the 1TB standard drive vs 1500 on the 256gb SSD variant. Please dont put the price up like the rest of the line.
Mac Pro - WTF
Mac Mini - Nice machine
Just sort the line out kill off these old products dragging heels like the old MBA, the non TB macbook pro then there would be less confusion.
At 25% apple tax people could stomach it but now its near 40% its just not worth it anymore. Unless you use Logic or Final Cut your currently better off in the windows world. All software is multi-platform and W10 is a decent option now.
Macbook Air = Completely different product category in arguably a no better form factor the dimmest display in the lineup.
The old air had i5s and i7 options and in 2013 were powerful for their form factor. Now they are very similar in form with slow processors so its not feasible to do more intensive work and they are stupid expensive.
Macbook Pro = Great machines but at 40% more than the competition. 13" is the go to but at £2000 with no dedicated graphics they are just too expensive. £4000 for a mid range 15" when the same spec Dell XPS can be had for £2300. There is glaring and extortionate price differences. Performance is very similar.... Also the thermal sham which isnt really apples fault but intels promises they didnt deliver on thermal properties, still im sure that didnt help sales. Last comment the keyboard and ports. Keyboard... give us one that wont break, Ports im all for TB3 but give us the SD slot and one legacy USB A port. Ive changed all my cables over but if im out and about seeing a client and they have a memory stick you have to have a dongle. That aint pro in my book
iMac = Good price, thermally constrained. Put a decent fan in it apple and for god sake put new chips in it. Really isnt that hard. Get rid of the mechanical and fusion drives, the base line 21 people are buying a machine that runs like sh*t out the box because Mojave isnt designed to run off a slow mechanical HDD. The speed difference is mind blowing 150mb/s on the 1TB standard drive vs 1500 on the 256gb SSD variant. Please dont put the price up like the rest of the line.
Mac Pro - WTF
Mac Mini - Nice machine
Just sort the line out kill off these old products dragging heels like the old MBA, the non TB macbook pro then there would be less confusion.
At 25% apple tax people could stomach it but now its near 40% its just not worth it anymore. Unless you use Logic or Final Cut your currently better off in the windows world. All software is multi-platform and W10 is a decent option now.
Nothing really surprising here. I was on market for a new laptop and eventually pulled the trigger on a Dell XPS 13. My first w10 machine after 15 Apple years. The Mac laptop line is totally ridiculous atm, with those prices, that keyboard. The MBP feels heavy and bulky in comparison to my new Dell, which has an amazing almost bezel-free screen and no useless touch bar. And Lenovo is delivering top notch laptops too, so Apple is better waking up. But it will? They seems to be blinded from their ego and their hybris. As i see things right now, sadly, there's no turning back for the most of us. Once Apple loose the loyal customer base, it's over. We'll see.
well, obviously when you force a port on people that still not ubiquitous, underpowered hardware, high prices, and almost 0 innovation. The MacMini, iMac, and MBP have been looking the same for a very long time.
Not to mention, OS X innovation is almost 0, its more of an update for the past 5 years or so than an upgrade. It does not make anything easier or intuitive. There was a time when people opted for the Apple software because it was easier, today people are looking elsewhere.
Not to mention, OS X innovation is almost 0, its more of an update for the past 5 years or so than an upgrade. It does not make anything easier or intuitive. There was a time when people opted for the Apple software because it was easier, today people are looking elsewhere.
Not sure why everybody is needing an upgrade. The "problem" with the whole PC market is that any PC that is 5 years old or newer are fast enough for majority of people. Heck, after the switch to SSD, almost any computer can last as long as you want it to be (or until the battery crapped out for laptops). The number one failure point of a computer is usually the hard drive, and Apple has taken care of that for all their notebook lineup and some on their desktop by switching to SSD.
I had 2012 Macbook Air that I have passed on to another person, and that thing is still blazing fast on everyday's tasks. I myself am using a 2013 15" Macbook Pro, and I don't even feel the need to upgrade at all after all these years.
There's a reason Apple decided to put more focus on mobile, and it shows as iPhone is their major cash cow for the last decade.
I had 2012 Macbook Air that I have passed on to another person, and that thing is still blazing fast on everyday's tasks. I myself am using a 2013 15" Macbook Pro, and I don't even feel the need to upgrade at all after all these years.
There's a reason Apple decided to put more focus on mobile, and it shows as iPhone is their major cash cow for the last decade.
This is good for them (Apple) not for us, the paying customer.
I don't think the real reason is that the market is just saturated.
2014 MBP 15" base model had 16GB / 256GB SSD, so I would expect that after 4 years, the base model would have at least 512GB SSD, because the prices are much lower. The higher-end 2018 model should have 32GB / 1TB SSD.
I have 2015 MBP 15", it works well, it's my main workstation, but I planned to upgrade. However the RAM and storage are the key specs for me and the base 2018 still have the same RAM and storage, so why on earth would I upgrade (and also pay +1000$ more than I payed for my MBP back in 2015)?
I also think that they won't have to wait for Intel processors to just bump the specs every 9-12 months, so when you buy a new laptop / desktop, you know you have the latest possible technology. 2014 and 2015 had the same processor (maybe even 2013, but I am not sure about that) and I was ok with that, it was Intel's problem.
iMac 4K / 5k should already have at least one fast SSD and one slower (1.5TB = 1TB slower + 512GB faster) as the base. No, they still sell almost two years old iMac for the same price with 1TB HDD 5400rpm... it's really like naming it "areYouStupidEnoughToBuyThisiMac".
Why not upgrading Macbook 12" in 2018? Add the true tone, 16gb for as the base for the higher-end model, better screen, touch id, 3rd gen keyboard... why not also doing the same with MBP without touchbar and forgot about the whole Air thing?
All Mac computers should have the same tech inside and the difference between them should be the size & power. True tone is not an expensive tech, touch id is not expensive tech, 16gb of ram is cheap, 3rd gen keyboard are just a few condoms added. It's like with that 3D touch missing iPhone XR... why? Just make 3 sizes of XS and make them cheaper. $599 the mini / $749 normal /$899 max = everybody is happy.
2014 MBP 15" base model had 16GB / 256GB SSD, so I would expect that after 4 years, the base model would have at least 512GB SSD, because the prices are much lower. The higher-end 2018 model should have 32GB / 1TB SSD.
I have 2015 MBP 15", it works well, it's my main workstation, but I planned to upgrade. However the RAM and storage are the key specs for me and the base 2018 still have the same RAM and storage, so why on earth would I upgrade (and also pay +1000$ more than I payed for my MBP back in 2015)?
I also think that they won't have to wait for Intel processors to just bump the specs every 9-12 months, so when you buy a new laptop / desktop, you know you have the latest possible technology. 2014 and 2015 had the same processor (maybe even 2013, but I am not sure about that) and I was ok with that, it was Intel's problem.
iMac 4K / 5k should already have at least one fast SSD and one slower (1.5TB = 1TB slower + 512GB faster) as the base. No, they still sell almost two years old iMac for the same price with 1TB HDD 5400rpm... it's really like naming it "areYouStupidEnoughToBuyThisiMac".
Why not upgrading Macbook 12" in 2018? Add the true tone, 16gb for as the base for the higher-end model, better screen, touch id, 3rd gen keyboard... why not also doing the same with MBP without touchbar and forgot about the whole Air thing?
All Mac computers should have the same tech inside and the difference between them should be the size & power. True tone is not an expensive tech, touch id is not expensive tech, 16gb of ram is cheap, 3rd gen keyboard are just a few condoms added. It's like with that 3D touch missing iPhone XR... why? Just make 3 sizes of XS and make them cheaper. $599 the mini / $749 normal /$899 max = everybody is happy.
I sadly have to agree.
Which seems to imply that anything that Tim Cook and his Board touch, gets a boring outlook (even though it isn't)
That says enough about their expiration dates.
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Even with saturation, as long as you're truly competing instead of lagging, business can grow multiple times.
Especially since distribution, sales, real estate costs are attributed to iDevice business (= essentially free). So Macs should fly
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The phrase "no sh*t Sherlock" springs to mind!
If they actually concentrated on their iMacs, Macbooks and other computer offerings instead of simply obsessing over their iPhone constantly then maybe we would see people actually wanting to buy them again!
If they actually concentrated on their iMacs, Macbooks and other computer offerings instead of simply obsessing over their iPhone constantly then maybe we would see people actually wanting to buy them again!
The thread, and the referenced post you are using, is about computer sales, not overall company performance. Lenovo does not offer services like Apple, or earbuds and headphones, etc. Comparisons at that level are not valid either. But parsing only computer sales data, yeah, Apple is not that successful.
If smartphones have reached a mature market, growth in (traditional) computers is even less expected.
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Yeah, because there is no such thing as an iPod or iPhone halo effect.
The iMac didn't get a 2018 update, the Mac Pro is going to be updated this year (Apple confirmed themselves), the new Macbook Air and Macbook Pro's weren't going to carry that. Had Apple updated the iMac and introduced the new Mac Pro then i think it would of been a different story. Fingers crossed for an updated iMac this year