Mac Shipments More Than Doubled in First Three Months of 2021 Compared to Same Period in 2020 [Updated]

[Lemon Olive]

Mr. Cook stated Apple would take about two years to fully transition their lineup. I feel that would mean a higher end M2 for this year is inevitable.

I love the incentive for the personal computer market right now. Let's get it on, can't wait!
Hopefully this also leads to a (partial) recovery for the somewhat lost art that is great Mac software.

That's not what the number designation means. They will release M1X and M1Z and whatever other letter designations necessary to introduce variations on the M1 architecture.

We won't see M2 until Apple is ready with a new architecture that is a successor to M1. If I had to guess the first Mac with an M2 will be the last Mac update to Apple Silicon, the Mac Pro.

 

[magicschoolbus]

I think a lot of people ditched their intel machines that already owned Macs as well.

 

[velocityg4]

Given that overall PC shipments are up 55%. It seems the chip shortage is partially due to an increased demand. Really every year there's factories with problems. It's not usually much of an issue for global supply. Unless it's accompanied by a huge spike in demand. If there was no demand increase. It seems they'd have easily kept up with normal demand.

I'm actually shocked factories have been able to bump up production by such a large amount over such a short time to handle a 55% increase in sales. Which also means that's the most increase they can handle without a supply chain working at peak efficiency. Given the shortages.

I wonder what PC shipment numbers would have hit if there were no supply issues? I also wonder if the supply constraints is why Apple made 16GB BTO only? Rather than having one or two higher end shelf models with 16GB RAM.

 

[quarkysg]

I'm curious how the naming convention will go.

Apple renumbers every iOS based chip, so it would make a lot of sense that the M series does the same. There's only ever one version of every chip (or perhaps two if the iPad is clocked differently).

If the Ax SoCs are any indication, those from the same architecture will have the same number. So I guess this year’s Macs will use M1X.

Next year’s M series will share the same architecture as this year’s A15 and get M2, M2X and so on.

Let‘s see. I have a feeling we don’t have long to wait.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

55% total market growth is quite insane for what was once a shrinking market. No wonder components are scarce.

One of the scarcest components at the moment is a $1 IC required to operate the display. The company who manufactures these is not increasing production because the $1 chip doesn’t make them enough profit to expand production.

Plus, demand will drop once the world gets spinning normally again.

Shortage of $1 display driver chips is causing production delays for everything with a screen

A global shortage of chips has wreaked havoc on the supply chains of the tech and auto industries. This has caused many companies to scale back production...

www.techspot.com

 

[el-John-o]

Given that overall PC shipments are up 55%. It seems the chip shortage is partially due to an increased demand. Really every year there's factories with problems. It's not usually much of an issue for global supply. Unless it's accompanied by a huge spike in demand. If there was no demand increase. It seems they'd have easily kept up with normal demand.

I'm actually shocked factories have been able to bump up production by such a large amount over such a short time to handle a 55% increase in sales. Which also means that's the most increase they can handle without a supply chain working at peak efficiency. Given the shortages.

I wonder what PC shipment numbers would have hit if there were no supply issues? I also wonder if the supply constraints is why Apple made 16GB BTO only? Rather than having one or two higher end shelf models with 16GB RAM.

Absolutely. Enormous gains in crypto are also driving mining. It's a perfect storm and it's creating a backlog. We've got another year or two, maybe more, of this.

 

[9927036]

And functional keyboards, I'm sure that had an impact on upgrades too.

You mean keyboards that actually work? Where you press the key and something happens?

 

[nexusrule]

Funny how updating tech products leads to better sales of those products, isn't it?

If only Apple had a CEO who had more interest in product than bottles of Pepsi with a 50 year old recipe.

Luckly they have a CEO that thought smart to invest a lot of resources and years in developing in house silicon and then expand it across all their product lines when it became strategic. If Apple after just 4-5 years of being limited by Intel lack of improvements is already in the middle of an architecture shift it’s not because they have a CEO that’s sleeping.

 

[Spudlicious]

Not surprised, steered away from Macs all my life but right now, I'm very glad I went with an M1 MBA.. much, much better laptop than what's currently in my market right now.

The fervour of the convert ...... Welcome to the fold.

 

[wanha]

Wow, people are REALLY digging Big Sur!

(sarcasm)

 

[PBG4 Dude]

Luckly they have a CEO that thought smart to invest a lot of resources and years in developing in house silicon and then expand it across all their product lines when it became strategic. If Apple after just 4-5 years of being limited by Intel lack of improvements is already in the middle of an architecture shift it’s not because they have a CEO that’s sleeping.

2013 was the last great improvement in intel CPUs. The 2013 chips were so efficient that 2013 Mac laptops have double the battery life of 2012 models. Intel has been moving at a relative crawl since then, IMO.

 

[iPadified]

This is due to working from home during lock down. Many rather want a Mac and home rather than a company issued PC. Who can blame them?

Keyboards issues does not register outside this site and similar sites. Most people have not a clue what the M1 is or does. For reasons look elsewhere than technical.

 

[2013.1]

PC industry grew […], despite the global health crisis […] ?

• home office
• distance learning
• …

Probably some computers have been shared in families until 2020 and additional hardware had to be bought because of the crisis?

 

[Techwatcher]

Soon as they update the 16 inch MacBook Pro with the new redesign + M2 (or whatever it will be called) I may bite the bullet.

 

[anthogag]

To make Macs more attractive Apple could work with companies like Autodesk to bring Revit to MacOS. AutoCAD for MacOS already exists. Revit is currently only for Windows.

Apple develops its own software. It could develop a better design+BIM tool for Macs. Currently, good BIM software kind of sucks for 3D designing and good 3D designing tools kind of suck for BIM implementation.

 

[qoop]

Anyone know how the Mac Pros are doing?

 

[Shalev Lazarof]

apple silicon is killing it... and I can't wait for the next generation of apple computers.

 

[GtrDude]

"Mac Shipments More Than Doubled in First Three Months of 2021 Compared to Same Period in 2020"

Yes of course they did. Should be more. 2020 was the beginning of Covid and most people stayed at home panicking while stores were closed for months.

 

[huge_apple_fangirl]

I wonder if other companies are more likely to have chip shortages than Apple, thus letting them gain in the market?

 

[icerabbit]

• home office
• distance learning
• …

Probably some computers have been shared in families until 2020 and additional hardware had to be bought because of the crisis?

Exactly this.

Many people were still getting by with aging hardware at home, because they may not use it all that much, just a bit of casual internet, paying bills, etc.

Suddenly they may be working from home, do a lot more digital communication, windows may have been long in the tooth, system struggles a bit to boot, multi-task or whatever, and people decided to buy a new laptop or desktop.

Kids need to study from home, time to give everybody a dedicated system, because sharing a desktop in the evening or on weekends no longer suffices.

 

[trip1ex]

Just remember Apple's shipments in q12020 were -20.7% YoY and were the worst of the bunch. Dell is worst here but Dell was the best last year and actually increased ~1% YoY in q12020.

Still a big increase in shipments from Q1 2019 (over past 2 years) for Apple and everyone else.

 

[smulji]

Clearly the M1 has helped Apple break out of the Intel stalemate that was definitely hurting the Mac line overall. With new designs and likely the M2 this year, I see this trend continuing for Apple. I'd love one, but being iPadOS exclusive for 3 years, the pandemic has only pushed more of my business capabilities to the cloud, making it even easier to manage as is. I'd love a dual boot option on an iPad Pro though to get macOS access if ever needed - hoping this is close to a reality.

At the rate the Mac has been growing recently, it'll become a bigger and more important lineup than the iPad.

 

[DNichter]

At the rate the Mac has been growing recently, it'll become a bigger and more important lineup than the iPad.

It's all important in my eyes, they do the same things. Some people prefer a Mac and some people prefer an iPad - it's just a form factor difference at this point.

 

[ArPe]

I wonder what impact stimulus checks in the U.S. and elsewhere had on this.

Not as much as people here are supposing. Many workers have been allowed to take company laptops and desktops home.

 

[Stunning_Sense4712]

It does not surpirse me Apple’s M1 chips have caught Intel and AMD off guard since their new chips have good performance, lower power consumption, and less heat. When you factor in Microsoft’s poor update performance with Windows 10 it does not surprise me to see Apple‘s Mac shipments increase.