Mac Shipments Down in Q4 2019 Amid Overall PC Market Growth

[PDavidAlexander]

Good. It's about time Apple's arrogance and complacency caught up with them.

Actually, I think it's probably due to the fact that Macs just last longer. I have a Late 2014 iMac that still performs incredibly well, so I have no plans to purchase a new one in the foreseeable future. People may claim it's the price, but I think Macs are a good deal considering the longevity you get from these machines. As for the perception that Apple has been sluggish to innovate in the PC market in recent years, well, what more do they need a laptop or desktop to do at this point?

 

[T.j.p.]

Could we see that as units of money instead of units of machines? I’m betting it would look better for Apple.

 

[Naaaaak]

 

[T.j.p.]

Actually, I think it's probably due to the fact that Macs just last longer. [...]

I’m still using my 2013 Mac Pro (from 2013) and a 15 inch 2012 MacBook Pro with Retina display. I use both for development. I want a 16 inch MacBook Pro ... but it’s want not need ... I upgraded the SSD, memory and soon the professor of my desktop, but may really want to upgrade as soon as a contract allows the $15-20,000 new Mac Pro and display expense. Likely I’ll wait until they show in refurbs. And until the new Mac Pro 3rd party upgrades start getting reasonable.

But Apple products are long lived for sure.

 

[poematik13]

I never see PC laptops in the wild - who are these ppl?

Third world countries and other places where macs are unrealistically expensive due to import fees and taxes

 

[falkon-engine]

Seems that Apple seeks profit margins over market share. But their MacBooks are overpriced.

 

[CWallace]

When most of the Mac product line is not updated for long periods of time, this is no accident.

And even when it is updated often, it still contracts.

Mac sales are contracting and iPad (Pro) sales are expanding because, as others have noted, we're moving into a "Post PC world" where always-on connected devices are what is desirable for more and more people (I almost never turn on my 2017 15" MacBook Pro because my 2018 12.9" iPad Pro does everything in a lighter package with much better battery life).

 

[Poisonivy326]

Why can't Apple go back to its first Gen retina MacBook pro style? That style has everything. Great keyboard, weight, ports, mag-safe, style. The newer models just don't have that.

 

[Sodium Chloride]

Apple's worldwide Mac shipments were down in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to new PC shipping estimates shared this afternoon by Gartner.

Apple shipped an estimated 5.26 million Macs during the quarter, down from 5.43 million in the year-ago quarter, a decline of three percent.

If they want more sales, they should make iMacs with thin bezels and equip it with Nvidia RTX 2080-TI or ATI equivalent with similar performance. The current iMac chassis design is 7 years old. Thick bezels should be a thing in the past.

​

 

[CE3]

It’ll be higher next quarter.

 

[pier]

Bring us a fair-priced Mac mini and we will buy. Not everyone needs or wants a new screen to come with their computer. The current Mac mini is too costly (although it's also a powerhouse... more than the average consumer needs).

The current Mini is not a "powerhouse" and quite very overpriced for what you get:

1) The CPU is a laptop chip

2) Cooling is awful

3) The integrated GPU will bottleneck your CPU. For example there are tons of users complaining about audio glitches in Logic and Ableton Live when running a 4K monitor. The solution is either to go down to 1080p or buy an eGPU solution (on top of the overpriced Mini).

I considered one thinking it was a good machine and turns out it's not.
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I never see PC laptops in the wild - who are these ppl?

Outside of the US
[automerge]1578965330[/automerge]

It’ll be higher next quarter.

Maybe. The trashcan was released in 2013 and it went downhill from there. It will take some time for people to regain confidence in the Mac after these years of unreliable crap.

 

[Peperino]

Proof positive that Macs should be more iDevice-like.

--- Tim Cook

Wrong... Proof that users are NOT willing to buy underspec disposable appliances, that are way overpriced.
Proof that users are tired of being rip off by Apple's obscene RAM and SSD prices.

Wake up!

 

[Mainsail]

I just wonder if this has more to do with the fact that iPads are increasingly being seen by average consumers as MacBook alternatives.

I can imagine a typical Apple consumer deciding to keep their old MacBook with dwindling battery life in clamshell mode and connected to a Monitor. Then, they just buy a $250 iPad on sale as their mobile laptop "alternative". An iPad is perfectly fine for light productivity, mail, messages, web, calendar, notes, reading, photos, video, social media, etc... This is 90% of what most people do anyway. Then, they can use the old computer for the heavier tasks, which are becoming increasingly less frequent as iPad capabilities improve.

Why spend big bucks on a new Mac?

Typical consumers have no idea they have a butterfly keyboard or non-upgradable SSD. It's just not on their radar. They are just seeking lower priced options to fill the same need, which in most cases are pretty modest.

I think Windows users are more likely to stick with cheap Windows machines rather than make the shift to iPad.

Anyway, all pure conjecture on my part.

 

[realtuner]

Gartner says 5,262,000 Macs.
IDC says 4,721,000 Macs.

That’s a difference of 541,000 Macs, or more than 10%.

How can anyone take these numbers seriously when they are so far off? I sure hope nobody is stupid enough to pay for their reports.

 

[Peperino]

Apple is fine with the number of Macs they’re selling at the current prices.

People have been complaining about the price of Macs for 35+ years. What’s new 🤷‍♂️

What's new?
That they forgot about innovation!
That before although Apple was more expensive they offered better quality, better design, and better specs. Now look at the MBP 2016+ (a complete lame duck, with a poor design and an unusable keyboard).
poor design, poor quality, overpriced and NOT upgradable.
That it takes Apple forever to upgrade. 6+ years

 

[cube]

Ryzen and thinness.

 

[mdriftmeyer]

Seems that Apple seeks profit margins over market share. But their MacBooks are overpriced.

It seems people [myself included] want to make a profit off their stock investment and not just a dividend.

 

[simonmet]

You can see in that chart when Tim Cook took over! Once upon a time, and for a long time (basically during Jobs’ entire tenure) Apple’s growth consistency outpaced the rest of the industry; now they’re one of the worst.

They‘ve decided they want to remain exclusive to 7-14% of the market, thereabouts.

 

[realtuner]

Wrong... Proof that users are NOT willing to buy underspec disposable appliances, that are way overpriced.
Proof that users are tired of being rip off by Apple's obscene RAM and SSD prices.

Wake up!

You have literally zero factual basis for your comment. If these numbers are correct (and they are highly suspect), sales only slightly dropped. If people were feeling “ripped off” as you say, then why didn’t we see a massive drop in sales?

At best you could say out of 20 potential Mac buyers only 19 bought and 1 decided not to buy. The reasons for that 1 person not to buy could be many, one of which could be price. For you to claim this is mainly because of RAM or SSD pricing is 100% BS.

 

[Peperino]

You have literally zero factual basis for your comment. If these numbers are correct (and they are highly suspect), sales only slightly dropped. If people were feeling “ripped off” as you say, then why didn’t we see a massive drop in sales?

At best you could say out of 20 potential Mac buyers only 19 bought and 1 decided not to buy. The reasons for that 1 person not to buy could be many, one of which could be price. For you to claim this is mainly because of RAM or SSD pricing is 100% BS.

You need to learn how to read!
I am NOT claiming that the drop in sales are because of the RAM and SSD overprice. That is just the cherry on top. The real reason, is the lack of innovation, design, poor quality, poor upgrade cycles, way overpriced underspec line up, non upgradable disposable computers, etc.

Next time, just take the time to actually read the post!

 

[simonmet]

I don't think it was so much about arrogance, but I think they were going though a transition at the company level (new campus, changes in leadership, etc.). With that behind us, I expect product releases to return to a regular schedule. I'd like to see new "bumps" every 6 months.

It absolutely was about arrogance. They just discovered they couldn’t get away with as much as they thought they could (or TimmyC wanted to) without it cutting into market share, revenue and (likely) profits.

Who’d have thought that bleeding the customer with overpriced, unreliable hardware would impact sales; or that giving the customer better value would boost them?

The 16” MacBook indicates a recognition that the previous MacBooks were overpriced. If not, why are they now offering more for less? It takes some special cognitive dissonance not to accept that. The iMac designs are also stale and in huge need of a modernisation.

 

[realtuner]

You need to learn how to read!
I am NOT claiming that the drop in sales are because of the RAM and SSD overprice. That is just the cherry on top. The real reason, is the lack of innovation, design, poor quality, poor upgrade cycles, way overpriced underspec line up, non upgradable disposable computers, etc.

Next time, just take the time to actually read the post!

I only responded to your single post that I quoted.

Regardless, you’re still wrong. Mac quarterly sales have fluctuated between 4-5+ million or so the last 5 years. Your “reasons” for another fluctuation (slight drop) have, as I already stated, zero basis in fact.

 

[x86dude]

Please Apple, get your mac together.

 

[AustinIllini]

When you look at the Mac market, the only two models that have really been modernized in a couple of years are the 16" MBP and the Mac Pro.

The iMac is pretty stale and the MacBook line needs the scissor keyboard treatment.

 

[Starfyre]

Dells new XPS' are sexy.