Apple's Q3 Mac and iPad Sales Surge Despite Supply Constraints as People Work From Home

[7149041]

I don't understand this, its as if people didn't own computers and now because of the pandemic they had to go out and buy computer to work from home.

My girlfriend had some massive clunky slab of plastic running (or rather crawling) Windows 10. It was okayish to browse the web once a month, but the the lockdown hit. After a week working from home she was ready for the Mac 😉

I expect the same story was happening worldwide - people having some sort of device at home which was good enough for soem browsing but didn’t meet a requirement of actual productive work, lockdown pushing them to upgrades.

 

[choreo]

I don't understand this, its as if people didn't own computers and now because of the pandemic they had to go out and buy computer to work from home.

I just dropped about $15,000 on a new MacPro system, but I have always worked from home on Macs-only for over 30 years. I am sure they saw some gain due to the pandemic with new people working from home, but in my case the lockdown just gave me the time off I needed to configure a newer system and try to get the kinks out while there is no work. Strictly "betting on the come" in my case. If the economy does not come back, it won't matter anyway because it would be my last Apple purchase!

 

[Applebot1]

Apple products are more expensive but do hold up better and the user experience is so much more profound.

There is no perfect company or product and we can be hyper critical of Apple but that’s fine as our expectations are so high and hopefully pushes Apple to make better products

 

[Tech198]

Just about any surge you can relate to more "working from home" nowadays.. in this time

 

[stead]

I guess we would need to see the numbers, but AirPods and wearables have much lower retail pricing compared to iPads and still reach Mac revenue. It’s been said that AirPods have much higher margins than typical Apple products at around 59% sccording to Forbes.

That's all fine and well but again does not have any bearing on the margins of iPads. All evidence I've ever seen regarding iPads suggests they're being sold with reasonable/healthy profit margins, even if they might be comparatively low compared to items such as AirPods.

 

[recoil80]

I bought a new Mac to work remotely and I know many friends who got an iPad for their children to study from home. No surprise Macs and iPads sales were great during the pandemic.
I wonder about the iPhone this fall, many people lost their jobs and a brand new iPhone doesn't look like a top priority.

 

[Shanghaichica]

I don't understand this, its as if people didn't own computers and now because of the pandemic they had to go out and buy computer to work from home. Especially Apple which is usually reserved for people who are more well off, so they probably own a computer already on the opposite of the people on the lower end of the income scale who might not own a computer and will get the cheapest-if not used-computer possible.



I am guessing that Apple is hoping that iOS buyers like the iPad will give continuous stream of income via buying apps and services.

They might have already had a computer but it might not have been suited to working from home or they might have wanted a better experience. Before lockdown we had a MacBook Air. However my husband wanted a bigger screen and got an iMac to use for working from home.

Also I think a lot of people thought if they were going to be stuck at home they might as well get a nice tablet to watch Netflix on and play games.

 

[DNichter]

Happy to see good performance from both the Mac and iPad. I’m heavily invested in iPad Pro for the future, but I’m interested to see where they go with the Mac. Hoping for a smoother experience with the move to their own silicon. Apple is set up well either way.

 

[Abazigal]

I don't understand this, its as if people didn't own computers and now because of the pandemic they had to go out and buy computer to work from home. Especially Apple which is usually reserved for people who are more well off, so they probably own a computer already on the opposite of the people on the lower end of the income scale who might not own a computer and will get the cheapest-if not used-computer possible.

Here are some possibilities.

With schools closed, children need computers for home-based learning. If a family has multiple children, it may not be feasible for everyone to share a communal laptop, especially if the teachers are conducting live lessons over zoom and they are all happening at around the same time. There is impetus to get computers for every kid in the family, and iPads represent an affordable and versatile solution. Not to mention that with the whole family being stuck at home during the quarantine period, iPads are an easy way to keep your kids entertained.

If they were using an older computer, it may make sense to upgrade for the improved productivity, considering you are now using it more heavily, and for longer periods of time.

What we are probably seeing are a lot of purchases which would normally have been spread out over the next couple of months or even years.

 

[MacBH928]

I just dropped about $15,000 on a new MacPro system, but I have always worked from home on Macs-only for over 30 years. I am sure they saw some gain due to the pandemic with new people working from home, but in my case the lockdown just gave me the time off I needed to configure a newer system and try to get the kinks out while there is no work. Strictly "betting on the come" in my case. If the economy does not come back, it won't matter anyway because it would be my last Apple purchase!

Why is this your last Apple purchase after 30 years?

 

[MacBH928]

What we are probably seeing are a lot of purchases which would normally have been spread out over the next couple of months or even years.

Well, then that means Apple future sales will decline because future sales shifted to the current quarter

 

[choreo]

Why is this your last Apple purchase after 30 years?

Depends on the economy. If I go out of business, I will not need a Mac at all. Right now 80% of my clients are shut down entirely through the end of this year - so my revenue is down by 80%. Some of those businesses will never come back, others maybe -but not this year! Also concerned that Adobe is still not optimizing their apps to take full advantage of the MacPro and Catalina potential - programs like After Effects are just too slow for paying work.

 

[MacBH928]

Depends on the economy. If I go out of business, I will not need a Mac at all. Right now 80% of my clients are shut down entirely through the end of this year - so my revenue is down by 80%. Some of those businesses will never come back, others maybe -but not this year! Also concerned that Adobe is still not optimizing their apps to take full advantage of the MacPro and Catalina potential - programs like After Effects are just too slow for paying work.

Well surely others will pop up,
How is AE slow for work? I thought its the main tool world wide people use for SFX even on movies. You mean on MacOS?