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Apple's Mac Sales Stagnant in Q2 2017 Amid Continuing Worldwide PC Market Decline

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Apple's Mac sales remained stagnant in the second quarter of 2017 compared to the year-ago quarter, according to new PC shipping estimates shared today by Gartner.

During the quarter, Apple shipped an estimated 4.24 million Macs worldwide, down from 4.26 million in the second quarter of 2016, for an estimated decline in growth of -0.4 percent. While sales were down slightly, market share was up. Apple held 6.9 percent of the market during the quarter, up from 6.7 percent a year ago. Apple is estimated to be the number four PC vendor in the world, edging out Asus, the company that held that position this time last year.

HP and Dell, the number one and number three worldwide PC vendors, respectively, saw shipment growth during the quarter. HP shipped an estimated 12.7 million PCs for 10.8 percent of the market (3.3 percent growth) while Dell shipped an estimated 9.6 million PCs for 15.6 percent of the market (1.4 percent growth). Lenovo, once the number one worldwide PC vendor, is now in second place after sales dropped from 13.3 million in Q2 2016 to 12.2 million in Q2 2017. Lenovo now holds 19.9 percent of the market and saw a -8.4 percent dip in growth.

gartner_2Q17_global.jpg
Gartner's Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 2Q17 (Thousands of Units)​

Asus and Acer, the number five and six worldwide PC vendors, also saw PC sales fall significantly. Asus shipped 4 million PCs during the quarter, down from 4.5 million for -10.3 percent growth, while Acer shipped 3.9 million, down from 4.4 million for -12.5 percent growth.

According to Gartner, overall worldwide PC shipments totaled 61.1 million units in Q2 2017, a 4.3 percent decline compared to Q2 2016.
"Higher PC prices due to the impact of component shortages for DRAM, solid state drives (SSDs) and LCD panels had a pronounced negative impact on PC demand in the second quarter of 2017," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner "The approach to higher component costs varied by vendor. Some decided to absorb the component price hike without raising the final price of their devices, while other vendors transferred the costs to the end-user price."
Click to expand...
In the United States, PC shipments totaled 14 million units during the second quarter of 2017, a 5.7 percent decline compared to the second quarter of 2016. Apple is the number four PC vendor in the United States, shipping an estimated 1.7 million Macs (for 11.8 percent market share), a significant decline from the 1.83 million Macs shipped in the second quarter of 2016.

gartner_2Q17_us.jpg
Gartner's Preliminary U.S. PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 2Q17 (Thousands of Units)​

Apple's U.S. sales dropped 9.6 percent from Q2 2016 to Q2 2017, with Lenovo and Asus also seeing sharp dips. Lenovo's sales were down 16.3 percent (1.9 million PCs shipped vs. 2.2 million in Q2 2016), while Asus's sales were down 40.7 percent (447K PCs shipped vs. 754K in Q2 2016).

gartner_2Q17_trend.jpg
Apple's Market Share Trend: 1Q06-2Q17 (Gartner)​

IDC also released its PC market shipment estimates today, and its numbers are a bit rosier. IDC estimates Apple shipped 4.3 million Macs during the quarter, up from 4.26 million for a small 1.7 percent growth. According to IDC, worldwide PC shipments totaled 60.5 million units, a decline of 3.3 percent. Like Gartner, IDC estimates Apple is the number four worldwide PC vendor, behind HP, Lenovo, and Dell, but above Asus and Acer.

It's important to note that data from Gartner and IDC is preliminary and that the numbers can shift, sometimes dramatically and sometimes less so. Last year, for example, Gartner estimated Mac shipments of 4.56 million in the second quarter of 2016, but the actual number was 4.26 million.

Apple recently refreshed much of its Mac notebook lineup and its iMacs, so it could see some growth in the coming quarter as customers purchase the new machines.

Article Link: Apple's Mac Sales Stagnant in Q2 2017 Amid Continuing Worldwide PC Market Decline
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/07/12/apple-mac-sales-stagnant-in-q2-2017/
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kwikdeth

macrumors 65816
Feb 25, 2003
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"Higher PC prices due to the impact of component shortages for DRAM, solid state drives (SSDs) and LCD panels had a pronounced negative impact on PC demand in the second quarter of 2017"

when are people going to see through this smokescreen and call it like it is: artificial scarcity to drive up price. you cant realistically claim they couldnt predict demand would increase.
 
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Breaking Good

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How about just accepting the fact that it is a saturated market? You can put better screens, faster chips and larger storage drives in them. But they are still pretty much doing the same thing they did 20 years ago.

Apple makes some great products as do the PC makers. But that this point everyone that needs or wants a laptop or desktop and can afford one probably already has one.
 
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Lesser Evets

Lesser Evets

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There were no new Macs until the final weeks of the qtr... it's like "SHAZAYUM!" If Macs don't perform into the third and fourth quarters, then there is a larger problem needing to be addressed, but generally Mac sales are strongest when devices are newest.

Apple should stay strong and relevant by being relevant through strong product. Part of that is by updating ASAP and pushing software development in Apple to create faster/more efficient programs that are more intuitive to learn or just use.

As the PC market tanks over the next 5 years, Apple can maintain and grow by keeping fast, quality desktops and laptops on the market. They will find that will be the key to their sales (or market percentage) increasing.
 
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JGIGS

JGIGS

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I mean definitely price is an issue, especially in countries like mine where our dollar is weak to the American dollar, and casual computer/laptop users like myself that don't necessarily need to upgrade to a high powered computer aren't anymore. Can just use our smartphones for most of our needs.

Now if I could buy a 13" MBP or even the new MB for like $1200 I would have probably bought one recently but they start at like 1729 + 12% sales tax I'm dropping $1936 for a laptop. That's a lot of clams for something I can live without.
 
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Mr. Dee

Mr. Dee

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You gotta admit, Apple has kinda priced themselves out of the mainstream. Other factors include: mobile being a preferred computing platform for many (smartphone and tablets); and existing devices lasting longer. I don't think Apple will recover from this in way where you are going to see sales like 10 million per quarter, but the company needs to be more reasonable and moderate with pricing. No matter how advanced and sophisticated, $2,300 is asking too much in 2017. The highest end MacBook Pro should cost no more than two grand maxed out. With over 200 billion in the bank, Apple is not on the brink of bankruptcy, the company can start passing down some value to customers.

Hopefully, next years revision of the MacBook Pro in particular will see some significant price drop and come on, 256 GBs on an entry level 15 inch MBP is ridiculous. The retina MacBook needs to take the place of the MacBook Air. Its basically high priced Intel Atom Netbook in different colors.

With all this said, maybe Apple is happy with the way things are. Its just an inevitable path where your default computing will supplied by iPad Pro, iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods.
 
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Juicy Box

Juicy Box

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Sep 23, 2014
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HP and Dell seemed to be doing okay, especially when you compare them to the others.

Breaking Good said:
How about just accepting the fact that it is a saturated market?
Click to expand...
Do mean Apple's Mac stagnation, or the PC market in general?

I wouldn't blame Apple's current Mac performance on market stagnation, because they are also losing market share. To me, if it was just stagnation, then market share would be relatively unchanged.
 
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Rogifan

Rogifan

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Nov 14, 2011
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Not that I trust these numbers but with all the hype around Surface where is Microsoft?

Also if you believe these numbers it wasn’t just Apple that has flat to declining sales. So how do the geniuses here explain the decline from PC makers like Lenovo?
 
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