Apple's Notebook Sales Drop to Estimated 2.5M as Buyers Await New MacBook Pro

[tampageek]

Falling Mac sales should come as no surprise. The products have been dumbed down, glued down and neglected while remaining overpriced. El Crapitan has been a disappointment as well - especially since much of the reason to buy a Mac is the OS.

There has been way too much focus on turning  laptops into fashion accessories instead of working machines and people have been smart enough to notice. It's time to put Jony out to pasture and let him bring Angela A with him. Apple is a computer company and hopefully hitting them in the wallet will serve as a wake up call.

If your first apple product is under-powered and has only 1 port, you're not likely to recommend to a friend or be a return customer. Apple's problem is they thought they could get away with anything on the computer side because they had iphone to lean back on. Now that seems to be a weaker crutch and they need to return to quality and value.

 

[JohnGrey]

I wouldn't say I'm in the Cook is aweful camp, but things will certainly get stressful for him, if those numbers aren't turned around quickly.

Yes, Apple has more money in the bank then most nations, yes, Apple has a nice product mix, and yes, iPhone sales are bringing in billions but the fact remains we're now seeing some cracks in the foundation. iPad sales have been sliding for years, iPhone sales are slowing, and now this. I'm not going all in on the old Apple is Doomed, but there's no way you can paint this other then its very bad news.

With each new headline, I'm reminded of Steve's lost interview, where he talked about John Sculley's serious disease: the notion that a great idea is 90% of a great product. He went on at length about craftsmanship, not just in the realm of aesthetics but also in function.

Increasingly, Apple seems disinterested in function. They're interested in absurdly thin designs that look brilliant in modelling shots and films. They're interested in touting their green energy and practice commitments. They're interested in pandering to social justice issues. I don't need or care about any culture at Apple other than a culture of excellence in execution, and that's something that more and more often is being sacrificed for momentary posturing and sound bites that are met with fawning swoons at HuffPost and Salon.

 

[bh85]

I have quiet a few apple products, but I haven't been impressed with apple for quiet some time. Nothing new. They made a new watch and still didn't give users anything to crave about. They always release half baked products. Slow with updating and adding new functions to it. All headlines show, Apple is making billions, its worth this much and that much, but they are not investing/producing anything new. They should of released a TV. It would of been a new product at least. Updates to desktops/laptops are even worse. At least re-design the outside. Users will only wait so long before switching to something else.

 

[maflynn]

Maybe Apple will wow with the MacBook Pro at WWDC or maybe they won't, only time will tell. Me personally I still like my Apple products,

I was wowed when they rolled out the 5k iMac a few years ago, I was wowed by the retina Macbook (but it was pricey), but I do agree with you, that we need to be wowed

 

[Queen6]

That's a huge drop off, I'm not sure it can easily be explained away with people waiting for the newer model.

Personally I think, one significant factor of the previous surge in Mac sales was Windows 8. Many strongly disliked or were not able adapt to Microsoft`s new OS. Spin forward to 2016 Windows 10 is a significant improvement, the new style of Windows has also gained general acceptance, alongside the current personal computer market being depressed.

Average user is not waiting on any hardware update, they are likely more enticed by more functional products, that are offered at more realistic price point. Apple`s pricing for what they are presently offering is best described as humorous. Apple`s current Mac line up is best described as lacklustre, with an apparent sole focus of "thin & light" even the up coming 2016 MacBook Pro`s I expect little more than them being thinner & lighter, what else

I am just waiting on WWDC, equally I strongly suspect my hardware will be Windows based, some of the OEM`s are really showing strong innovation adding functionality & utility. The Mac is simply stagnating and has been for some time, being little more than a vehicle to bring in additional revenue from Apple`s IOS user base.


Q-6

 

[neteng101]

If the iPhone was treated in the same way as the MacBook lineups, Apple's stock would be half or less of what it is today.

Don't get me wrong - I absolutely still use my '13 rMBP every day but there's no reason to upgrade it - I'd sooner upgrade the Air 2 to a Pro 9.7.

 

[manu chao]

It's their own damn fault for waiting this long. People expect regular updates. I'm not paying $2k on a notebook for outdated hardware.

Yeah, how dare they have a 14 or 15 month wait for a new model. Every day past 12 months is an abomination.

 

[jeremy h]

I'm one of those waiting for something decent from Apple. I'd like to replace my 2008 Tower and also get a nice super speedy Mac Book Pro but the days since last update on here for people like me are becoming a joke.

I too have started to look for something to tide me over secondhand but guess what? My usual goto used dealer (who in the past has always had a decent stock of churned machines from design and video companies) can't get anything for love or money as everyone else has the same idea or are hanging on to what they got. When I asked him if he had any of the last of the silver Mac pro towers he couldn't stop laughing ... they currently get snapped up instantly...

 

[BWhaler]

I'm waiting for an update too, but mostly for a new display to pair with the new laptop. When both are available, I'll upgrade the set.

 

[Lesser Evets]

The powers-that-be will probably blame it on a declining market instead of their managerial incompetence. They'll take it as a sign that no one wants PCs anymore and shut down the whole line of products. Watch it happen. Apple now utilizes the Peter-principle.

 

[maflynn]

They're interested in absurdly thin designs that look brilliant in modelling shots and films.

Yeah, that does seem to be the case lately.

He went on at length about craftsmanship, not just in the realm of aesthetics but also in function.

That's what has drawn me to apple, you paid a lot but got a wonderfully crafted product.

 

[radus]

they may think "Apple Pay" is more important than Apple Computers / iPhones but if nobody buy's Apple Hardware nobody is using Apple Pay, if they brought good products we would buy, meanwhile they try to sell us overpriced outdated products so we don't buy

 

[samcraig]

I keep waffling back and forth (honestly) whether or not my next computer will be a Mac (latop or iMac) vs going back to a PC. I love my MacBook Pro and iMac - but really the only software I use that is Mac exclusive is Final Cut/Motion. I also use Aperture - but that eventually will lose it's shimmer given it's now defunct. Bang for the buck though is what makes me waver. On the flip side - time/energy migrating everything over to a PC doesn't excite me...

 

[maflynn]

one significant factor of the previous surge in Mac sales was Windows 8.

Interesting point - I hadn't contemplated that as a possible cause to some of the increasing sales. I know many people who held onto their machines because windows 7 was good and 8 was awful, though MS did correct some of the sins in win8.1 and I found that to be solid enough.

FWIW, I'm rocking with a SP3 over a MBP and its working well with windows 10. Perhaps I'm one of those people

 

[pee-jay-bee]

Are we surprised?

I don’t know about you, but I’m certainly not surprised. I know a lot of folks are blaming “Mac Longevity”. While it’s true that Macs last a long time, that doesn’t have anything to do with sales. Look at the smartphone market; people buy a new smartphone every two years. The reason for drop in sales is the lack of upgradeability. You can’t use overpriced
proprietary Solid State Drives and solder the RAM to the logic board and then expect sales to either maintain or increase. Most folks (myself included) would rather stick with an outdated Mac than buy one which is barely upgradeable. The old MacBook Pros have upgradeable hard drives, upgradeable RAM, upgradeable wireless cards, and the optical drive bay bay can be used as a second hard drive bay for extra storage.

No. Show me the evidence "most people" want to upgrade their laptops. People are totally happy with the MacBook (the right customers for that product). However, the Air is old and needs retiring and the Pro desperately needs an upgrade - I know plenty of people who've been holding off for a year or two. When the new Pro comes out there'll be a pent-up sales spike and all will be well in the (Apple laptop) world.

 

[sracer]

Falling Mac sales should come as no surprise. The products have been dumbed down, glued down and neglected while remaining overpriced. El Crapitan has been a disappointment as well - especially since much of the reason to buy a Mac is the OS.

From the hardware angle, I agree with you. From the OS POV, I have found Eric Clapton (looks like I'm not the only one with a "pet" name for it) to be the most stable version of OSX since Snow Leopard.

There has been way too much focus on turning  laptops into fashion accessories instead of working machines and people have been smart enough to notice. It's time to put Jony out to pasture and let him bring Angela A with him. Apple is a computer company and hopefully hitting them in the wallet will serve as a wake up call.

Introducing the Retina Macbook without significantly refreshing the rest of their notebook line certainly lends credibility to your argument.


Others have said that the longevity of Apple notebooks has contributed to the decline in sales. But I disagree. They've had longevity for a long time (no pun intended). This isn't the analogous situation of iPads where people were uncertain as to how long a particular iPad would be viable.

Perception can sometimes be reality, and when people see annual refreshes of new iPhones and iPads (and in the case of the iPhone SE and iPad Pro 9.7, LESS than a year) but see nothing on the notebook/desktop end (unless they are actively seeking for the slightest difference in specs), they can
lose interest and attention to those devices is lost.

 

[Serban]

Yeah, so as you've just confirmed, my 15" 2012's dedicated GPU has about as much, if not more, graphics power as the current entry-level rMBP.

That's what 4 years gets you from a $2000 Pro machine.

Like I said, it's a joke.

so your dGPU from 2012 is stronger than current dGPU ?

 

[Nozuka]

i wish it would drop even faster. apple apparently needs some motivation to update their hardware on time..

 

[kuito]

The the thing about the macbook pro that used to be the best is all the onboard ports so you didn't need so many damn adapters. To me, as a professional, it's nice to have them instead of a bag full of adapters. I really hope Apple does not remove any more of them, and adds usb-c just incase I happen to need that (which currently I do not)

 

[neteng101]

When the new Pro comes out there'll be a pent-up sales spike and all will be well in the (Apple laptop) world.

IF they don't mess it up - upgraded internals won't matter so much, the Pro needs a full reboot. The Air is getting to that stage too where it could use true new life. Only the MacBook is new enough but that does need a bit more love too - seriously that camera is a beyond bad joke.

 

[DoctorTech]

I recently had to buy a high end gaming Windows 10 laptop to get a graphics card capable of running my new 3D scanner (I went with a Razer Blade). Being a long time Mac fan, I hate to admit that this windows machine is running rings around my MacBook Pro. Granted, my rMBP is a late 2013 model but Apple has not given me sufficient reason to upgrade it in the past 2.5 years.

I am really hoping the next rMBP (whenever it is released) has enough new features & capability for me to upgrade. Making it 2 mm thinner, 0.2 GHz faster and removing a couple more ports that I regularly use is not going to get me to drop $2,000 on a new OS X machine.

 

[xkam1x]

Imagine if GTX 1080 shows up in Retina 15. Hahahahahahahahahahahahaaa I cry every time

 

[Serban]

cant 1080 is a 180W

 

[theluggage]

Apple has really fallen behind in MacBook innovation since 2012. Part of that is Intel's fault with chips that are barely faster than the previous generation. But part of it is their fault with the MacBook

The MacBook just seemed to repeat the mistakes of the original MacBook Air: too expensive, too few ports.

As for Intel - they've been part of the problem (the lack of DisplayPort 1.3 in the Intel GPUs & TB3 spec is also a problem for Apple since 5k is one of their party tricks), but that excuse is approaching its sell-by date. The problem seems to be that Apple have been waiting for "just the right" CPU/GPU combinations to plug into their Mac models, while Dell et. al. have been working with what is available. Its up to Apple now to prove that good things come to those who wait - they jolly well better launch something good at WWDC or face a serious loss of credibility.

I still think the rMBPs are the nicest machines out there (its not like Skylake is going to make a night/day difference) but there are limits... (Dealbreaker on the Dell XPS seems to be that they have 16:9 screens. Ick).

 

[Dan Holmstock]

Whoa.. very well phrased

Indeed it is. I am still using my rMBP from 2012 that had the GPU recall, after it expired in warrenty and I opened it up to add thermal paste, took it to Apple store, who emailed me they repaired it and come pick it up only to get there and was told NO never mind you added paste we are not fixing it. I emailed Corporate who did contact me back and would not make good on the offer to fix it. They basically said we stand by this decision. So i use this laptop that has a failed GPU and can not turn off or else i will never get it back on for at least an hour. This and the fact that Apple does not update the units anymore have made me skip them and I bought the surface. I like it actually, but miss OSX. Especially for FCPX. I guess I am not longer the target consumer, unless i am in the phone tablet market. I sold everyone in my family over to mac and here I am crawling back to Windows. ugh.