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MacBook Air Drives 6.5 Million Apple Laptop Shipments in Q3 2021
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As long as there still are Intel Processors with Iris Graphics, the M1 will remain as king for a very long time
I'll give that a look! I was worried it would affect services like push email etc.
Macs are pretty high everywhere.
When the starting price of a Mac laptop is around $900... no wonder the other guys sell a combined 60 million units in a quarter compared to only 6 million for Apple.
Note that these figures reflect the worldwide shipments.
The starting price of the MacBook Air as $999 applies ONLY to the U.S. Plus, the student discounts and other sales in which the MacBook Air costs $899 are all in the U.S.
In the rest of the world, these prices are higher, and student discounts do not necessarily apply.
The GDP per capita in the U.S. is $63,500 per year, so it makes perfect sense for an American to think that the MacBook Air is already a bargain at $999 and that they can still benefit from buying it at $899 with a student discount or in a Best Buy sale. But the world's GDP per capita is around $10,900, and the MacBook Air is more expensive in other countries than it is in the U.S. I live in Brazil and the MacBook Air can be found, heavily discounted, for $1500 (Apple's asking price is $2400). It is a lot of money especially considering that the GDP per capita in Brazil is only $6,800.
The MacBook Air may be nice and perfect, but the truth is that most people in the world do not have the money to pay for it. It does not matter how much Tim Cook stresses the value of Apple's products, they will only sell in large numbers if they reach a certain price point.
Of course, Apple is an American company, and Tim Cook speaks to Americans when he says that. And Apple is doing great, with high-profit margins, at selling laptops at these prices. It is not something that needs to change if Apple just wants a successful business unless it has the goal to increase its market share (which, apparently, it does not).
But, according to Statscounter (gs.statcounter.com), the reliability of which I do not know, Macs already represent 27% of all computers in the U.S., but only 15.9% of the computers worldwide (in Brazil, they are only 4.2%). Apple can keep selling more Macs to Americans, but it can only gain a significant chunk of the market if it sells its products to non-English speaking countries. And Apple's prices cannot touch those markets.
M1 Air is definitely the best Mac Apple has released for the masses in a long time. I’m going to hold out though for the M2 Air which hopefully takes its design cues from the new iMac. I really like that retro yet sleek, modern design.
It might at that! I'm not entirely sure how the sausage is made here. Worth playing with, though.
Funny, right after I posted that I opened up System Preferences for something and noticed that it took a moment to open -- like on my old Intel MBA
-- and remembered I'd toggled Low Power Mode. So I guess YMMV, as they say.
Oh no! I may just want to suffer with the battery life then. I have a Max processor, which one do you have?It might at that! I'm not entirely sure how the sausage is made here. Worth playing with, though.
Funny, right after I posted that I opened up System Preferences for something and noticed that it took a moment to open -- like on my old Intel MBA
You said all that... but I agree with you.
Remember I said "Macs are pretty high everywhere... no wonder the other guys sell a combined 60 million units in a quarter compared to only 6 million for Apple."
I guess I should have been more clear... lemme try again:
The reason every company not named Apple sells so many computers is because their computers are cheaper. Dell, HP, etc.
Or... the reason Apple sells so few computers is because Macs are expensive.
Yes, exactly.
Other factors may count to increase sales of PCs such as inertia of people who already runs Windows or companies who have an infrastructure prepared to run on Windows or software that only runs on Windows. In these cases it would be harder to switch to Mac regardless of price. People are not usually as attached to Macs except for their own will.
But the main reason is price. Should Apple sell less expensive computers it would have a much higher market share.
True... but what were those Dells?
Were they plastic Inspirons with Pentium processors and dim blurry 1366x768 screens?
Were they Chromebooks?
It's all about perspective.
Apple's laptops can be found on-sale for $900. Their normal price is $1,000. And that's the starting price. Their average price is actually higher.
So are we really gonna break out the champagne for Dell and their $249 laptops?
What is the perspective here exactly? That not everyone on the planet can afford to spend 1,000USD on a computer?
Should people in poorer countries around the world that need access to computers not have access to them because they have "pentium processors and dim blurry 1366x768 screens"?
Some of you are actually unreal. Businesses exist to serve anyone that is willing to be a customer. Just because you can afford better computers doesn't mean Dell's YoY growth is somehow less valid.
I think part of the confusion I've seen is that most of the reviews for Apple laptops are made by people who review things for a living and as such don't actually look at what matters to consumers who buy the equipment. There are barely any reviews for example as to whether the air would be suitable for developers (and what level of development you should jump from the air to a pro). My guess would be the average web developer pumping through homebrew and npm would be fine, as would the basic xCode developer, but when you start clocking Docker or heavy VM packages then you're going to need the extra machine power... but who knows? There's literally no comparisons out there for developers as to what machines can handle what, and to what extent. The Web is just awash with useless benchmarks and people rendering videos because apparently everyone is an influencer?
Yes. Exactly.
Not everyone on the planet can afford a $1,000+ Macintosh.
And that's why the PC manufacturers sell a ton more units than Apple does.
Dell has always sold more computers than Apple. Lenovo and HP do too.
Again... it's because those companies sell more affordable models.
Lemme try to clear up some confusion I may have caused in this thread:
Apple sells rather expensive computers. Therefore... Apple doesn't sell as many units as the rest of the PC industry. And that gives Apple less market share every quarter.
None of this is news though. It's always been like this. Macs are expensive and not many people can afford them. PCs come in all shapes and sizes and prices... and therefore they sell a ton.
Macs have 10% market share... PCs have 90% market share. Price is a big reason. Familiarity with Windows is another reason.
This hypothetical machine would have insane battery life
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Agreed. The M2 Air will probably have a price bump of a couple of hundred bucks (e.g. $1,199-$1,299). So, Apple could rebrand the current MBA as an SE model, and add an updated M2 or M1X processor. Then, they might keep the current price point at $999, and $899 with education discount. The truth is that you can find the current MBA on sale now for $100-$150 off, so it is within the realm of possibility.
Anyways, the M1 MBA is a great machine. I bought one for my daughter to take to grad school. It has been flawless.
I've had my M1 MacBook Air 16GB/1TB for a week now, and I have to say it's by far the best apple product I've ever owned. Absolutely amazing.
I game using GeForce Now on my MacBook Air. Whatever architecture and GPU matters less now for mobile. ARM or whatever.
Absolutely the best value laptop from apple right now. Upgraded from a 2014 MacBook Air that used to give me the beachball when saving a word doc!. Even better value because of the education discount + trade in I only paid $700.
Picked up an M1 Air with Apples School Promo, it’s such an incredible upgrade from an Intel 2018 MBP. Battery runs just forever, and no more fan noise or it running hot even while multitasking. Hope to keep it for a long time.
Why does it need to? If the $899 has the same % margin then it make little difference other than adding a load of new users to the Apple ecosystem. For me the MBA SE is 100% going to happen, Apple want market share and have shown on phones and tablets they’re happy to have devices at all price points.
Much of what you said is true. Apple does not care to make or sell the cheapest computer much
like BMW, honda, Toyota etc, do not care to make the cheapest cars.
That said the M1 MacBook air is one of the best values going mac or PC.
It's difficult to make direct comparison with other OEMs like that. PC OEMs get majority of their sales from enterprise contracts. I'm sure with the pandemic, many companies purchase new laptops in bulk to support their workforce. Apple is a bit weak in enterprise because they just don't offer anything cheaper than the macbook Air, and Applecare doesn't offer on-site service.
The fact that Apple can grow thus much with $1000 laptop minimum and consumer only focus speaks a lot of their brand power.