Worldwide Mac Sales Hold Steady as PC Market Sees Shipments Decline 9.6% in Q1 2016

[MisterK]

Here's my ideal Mac lineup:
First you trim down all the bezels on the laptops. That means a 12" screen fits in (what used to be) an 11" body. A 14" screen fits in (what used to be) a 13" body. 16" screen fits in (what used to be) a 15" body. Laptops would stay the same sizes but every screen would be bigger. Go retina across the board. Kill the Air.
That leaves you with:

MacBook 12"
MacBook Pro 14" & 16"

That clears up a lot of SKUs even if they keep doing colours. Neat and tidy.


Now for desktops.

A nice redesign on the iMac. Nothing mind blowing. Just beautiful 23" for the small one and 28" at the large size. We're removing bezel across the board! And just call it a Mac.

Do a complete rethink on the Mac Pro. Time to give people the expandable Mac they never thought Apple would do. At this point, why not? Give gadget sites the headline "Apple's new Mac Pro out PCs every PC". They could make it lesser margin Mac. They'd certainly make up for it in volume over the current Mac Pro. It could be a powerhouse PC in the traditional sense. Run VR like a champ. Do 3D, simulations, crunch video... Something power users wouldn't feel guilty about. Very un-Apple and it would garner them massive praise.

Have a nice 23" & 28" 5K Cinema "Mac" Display to go along with that.

Let's say that's:

Mac 23" & 28"
Mac Pro
Mac Display 23" & 28"


So much sanity.

On the OS side, Apple has an interesting opportunity since Microsoft is doing the compromised route with Windows (grandma friendly tablet OS mixed with power user OS).
"Mac OS 11" could have a few more power user features. Would make newer Windows versions more toy-like in comparison.
"iPhone OS" can continue on its good trajectory. Evolutionary updates.
"iPad OS" could more closely resemble Windows with dual work modes to defend against encroaching Surface. You could lock it to touch mode if you didn't want to make it work like a traditional computer.

 

[Bubba Satori]

I buy macs on behalf of clients and I still can't believe apple screwed us with 5400 RPM drives in the thin iMacs from 2014.

They did it because people keep buying them.
Who's to blame?

 

[usarioclave]

As a related not, internet access patterns in developing countries are changing as well. As you can imagine, mobile internet is killing landline based internet access business all over the world..especially in the more marginal speed ranges.

 

[ostrykolesz]

It was time to buy a new computer for my mom, bought a Mac Mini of course. Why? With Windows 10 she always some how made it crash or do funny stuff. With OS X the only problem that she has now is with mute/unmute. Just a little note to Microsoft: you should really beta test your software with seniors. And OS X should enable full resolution scaling for seniors - this has to be added by Apple ASAP.

As far as Lenovo is concerned - I am not surprised. Here in Poland a Lenovo will always be the best bang for the buck PC. In addition Lenovo makes quality PC's. Plus they partnered up with the leading retailers. They will continue to dominate for the next couple years for sure.

 

[MH01]

They all sell personal computers, of course apple numbers are going to look better when you compare them against the rest of the industry, especially when you have the "others" category. Globally Dell, ASUS and apple are on par. In the USA, Lenovo is out performing others by a significant margin, if you want an article about growth.

 

[peakman]

I buy macs on behalf of clients and I still can't believe apple screwed us with 5400 RPM drives in the thin iMacs from 2014.

Can't agree more on this... come on? Still 5400 RPM?

 

[Serban]

mac this year or next one will pass ipads

 

[CJM]

As far as regular and business personal computing goes, people are switching to more mobile forms for email access and the like. Hardware changes have slowed down and for the enthusiasts, or people who want more power, well I know for certain that the number of people building their own PCs is higher than ever.

Very occasionally, I pop into John Lewis to see what's on offer in the computing space. Apart from the rather sizeable Apple table, there's almost no product on sale from other companies - the machines they sell are hugely underpowered and merely 'good enough'. None of the PCs had standalone SSDs, for example. They either had HDDs or hybrids.

 

[allanfries]

I only update my Mac every 4-5 years, so looking forward to something good, come 2019-20.

 

[tdale]

Anecdotally among the non-geeks that you know, why are PC shipments falling?

Maybe they are reliable enough not to need updating, especially as you can update individual components, thereby, a "sale" is not a sale.
[doublepost=1460453468][/doublepost]

Number 5 in market share, number 1 in profits! Must be doing something right

Yep, placing profits ahead of specs, factor in a higher than needed margin, done. PC makers compete with each other, Apple relies on Apple users sales. I am a fully fledged Apple user but I aint stupid

 

[Serban]

i think this year when imacs will be updated...we can say bye bye to normal hdd

 

[LCPepper]

Well this is all just to be expected as a given...

Apple is literally the best company in the world!

I love Mac <3

(And iDevices)

 

[Crosscreek]

Looks to me as Dell is doing the best overall. The reason PC sales have declined is that older machines are perfectly capable of running Windows 10 and upgradeable.

Apple products are appliances that are glued and soldered together now days and older machine are not capable of being upgraded to latest OS X.

 

[JackFrankston]

Anecdotally among the non-geeks that you know, why are PC shipments falling?

My guesses would be: countries like China aren't growing at the same rate anymore so we've hit saturation. Businesses hold on to PCs longer because for 90% of employees, they are already powerful enough. They are more likely to fix them than buy new. For consumers, a lot of them are browsing/gaming/watching on phones, tablets, TVs so don't need to upgrade their PCs as often. Cloud also means a lot of the computing/storage is done away from the PC so there's less need to upgrade.

 

[tjskywasher]

Apple products are appliances that are glued and soldered together now days and older machine are not capable of being upgraded to latest OS X.

Of course you can upgrade older Macs to the latest version of OS X, certain Macs going back to 2007 can run El Capitan and most Macs since then. How many PC's from 2007 can update to Windows 10?

 

[maflynn]

That's pretty amazing, given how behind Apple is with upgrading a lot of the computers

It reaffirms a philosophy of eeking out updates, watering down specs and cutting corners at every opportunity. (See the MacBook, iMac and Mac Mini) A decease in sales may compel some action. This type of news means more of the same.

I'd conjecture that consumers don't really care to see the latest chipset or GPU. Infact, I'd go as far as to say that most computers (PC or Macs) from 2012 are powerful enough for most consumeres, never mind 2016.

Other makers update their lines like crazy and have tried to cut the prices on their way to financial ruin.

I'm not saying I'm happy with the situation, but then I think myself and many people here at MacRumors do not fit the idea of a typical consumer.

 

[Loge]

A nice redesign on the iMac. Nothing mind blowing. Just beautiful 23" for the small one and 28" at the large size. We're removing bezel across the board! And just call it a Mac.

It makes no sense to call the iMac the "Mac" when all the other Macs are also Macs. OK I know they did this with the watch, but it still makes no sense.

 

[navaira]

It makes no sense to call the iMac the "Mac" when all the other Macs are also Macs.

Why not?

Mac
Macbook
Mac Pro
Macbook Pro

(and Mac SE of course)

 

[2457282]

I find it interesting that as a whole the entire industry is shrinking. But then add tablets to this and it is still shrinking. Are people holding on to computers longer or are they all just going off the grid? My observation (and it is anecdotal) is that young millennials are skipping computers all together and just spending on their smartphones. With computers available at work, most kids and young adults don't seem to feel they need computers in their personal life. I think there is a trend here that the industry should be paying attention to.

 

[elvislives]

That's pretty amazing, given how behind Apple is with upgrading a lot of the computers (Air, MBP, MP, etc.). I know a LOT of people who are waiting for the new MBP/MB - let's hope Apple doesn't disappoint.

Yes Apple need to produce a new "PRO" MBP... nvidia pro GPU please .... and 32GB RAM would be nice.

 

[2457282]

It makes no sense to call the iMac the "Mac" when all the other Macs are also Macs. OK I know they did this with the watch, but it still makes no sense.

I think we should rename the iMac to the Mac Onesie.

 

[navaira]

I think people do hold on to computers longer. It's no longer 386-486-Pentium market with massive speed improvements. My fiance rocks a 2011 iMac and it does everything it's supposed to do, and since I attached a Thunderbolt SSD it's really fast as well – not blazing fast but there are hardly any lollipops of doom happening. It has no problems running Windows 8 in VirtualBox at the same time as OS X. While of course new features in 10.12 could slow it down (more transparent transparencies? 4K video wallpapers? they will come up with something) we might deal with that by simply not updating to 10.12. I expect my 2015 Air (yes, with a terrible screen, I know) to last five years as well, with battery replacement in 2-3 years. There are few people really who can afford to buy a new Macbook every year because it got thinner.

The way to make people replace their PCs is to come with something so exciting that everybody will want it. Force Touch or retina aren't enough – yes, retina looks great, but not €2000 (or more) great. The first "encouraging" steps have been taken by soldering and glueing everything – if you want your computer to be faster, we've got a new one for you. Removing all sockets from all Macs is going to help too – you bought a 5400rpm model and want an SSD? Sorry about that, but we've got a new 27" model rolling out, just buy one!

 

[Crosscreek]

Of course you can upgrade older Macs to the latest version of OS X, certain Macs going back to 2007 can run El Capitan and most Macs since then. How many PC's from 2007 can update to Windows 10?

I have a 2007 HP running it as a matter of fact. I changed it over to a Linux machine for a while and tried Windows 10 after it came out and it ran fine and still in use as a part time machine.

 

[iTom17]

Proud to be a contributor to that market share as I bought my very first Mac last January/February.

I think Apple is doing pretty well. Like I saw a few others mentioning, they have been watering down on specs, prices have increased in several countries including mine, and no new interesting Macs have been released for a while. And it's not even the whole story, as Apple still make the highest profits of all those PC manufacturers. So yeah, they must be doing something right then. Anyway, it's good to see these numbers.

Even though I just got my first Mac, I'm pretty curious what Apple will bring next. Heck, I hope the next MacBook Pro gets some better hardware. At least 16 GB RAM (or allow users to upgrade themselves/make upgrade options more affordable) and Iris Pro graphics for the 13-inch models. Even better, bring a dedicated GPU to the entry level 15-inch model. I also think they should ditch the MacBook Air and replace it with the Retina MacBook, but offer some (thicker) models of it that have at least one USB and Thunderbolt-port.

 

[TallManNY]

I find it interesting that as a whole the entire industry is shrinking. But then add tablets to this and it is still shrinking. Are people holding on to computers longer or are they all just going off the grid? My observation (and it is anecdotal) is that young millennials are skipping computers all together and just spending on their smartphones. With computers available at work, most kids and young adults don't seem to feel they need computers in their personal life. I think there is a trend here that the industry should be paying attention to.

Do you think people are starting to not have a computer in their house? I can't believe many people don't have at least something hooked up to the internet besides their phone. I think it is just that replacement cycles are changing. Since for many people the computer is just an internet access machine, the computer keeps getting better each year as their IPS provides better speed and the Internet gets "better" or at least bigger. So no need to replace the computer.

But do you know people who live in their own home and just don't have a computer? Maybe I could see a young person living at home not feeling like they need their own computer and they can just use the family computer. Everyone can just use their phones for personal stuff.