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Research Firms Paint Contrasting Pictures of Apple's Mac Shipments in Q2 2019
Prominent research firms Gartner and IDC attempt to estimate shipments of computers around the world on a quarterly basis, and both firms today released their estimates for the second calendar quarter.
Gartner's and IDC's estimates are just that — estimates – and with Apple no longer reporting unit sales of Macs and other products, we won't know how accurate these estimates end up being. But as revealed in today's releases, they can differ quite a bit.
Gartner's Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 2Q19 (Thousands of Units)
Gartner says worldwide PC shipments were up 1.5 percent year-over-year, with Lenovo leading the way on strong growth and HP and Dell sitting in second and third places respectively. Apple registered in fourth place with an estimated 3.711 million Macs shipped, a 0.2 percent decline over the previous year, while Acer and Asus rounded out the top vendors on a global basis.
Gartner's Preliminary U.S. Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 2Q19 (Thousands of Units)
If accurate, Gartner's estimates would put Apple with its lowest share of the U.S. PC market since the first quarter of 2014 and the lowest recorded on a global basis since Gartner started including Apple as a top global vendor in the third quarter of 2014.
Apple's Market Share Trend: 1Q06–1Q19 (Gartner)
IDC's estimates paint a much different picture, however, projecting worldwide PC shipment growth of 4.7 percent compared to the second quarter of 2018. IDC pegs Apple as having shipped 4.011 million Macs in the quarter for nearly 10 percent year-over-year growth.
IDC says Apple benefited from increased inventory levels due not only to the launch of new MacBook Pro models but also some proactive shipments into the distribution channels to guard against potential upcoming tariffs.
Gartner's and IDC's estimates are just that — estimates – and with Apple no longer reporting unit sales of Macs and other products, we won't know how accurate these estimates end up being. But as revealed in today's releases, they can differ quite a bit.
Gartner says worldwide PC shipments were up 1.5 percent year-over-year, with Lenovo leading the way on strong growth and HP and Dell sitting in second and third places respectively. Apple registered in fourth place with an estimated 3.711 million Macs shipped, a 0.2 percent decline over the previous year, while Acer and Asus rounded out the top vendors on a global basis.
“Worldwide PC shipments growth was driven by demand from the Windows 10 refresh in the business market in the second quarter of 2019. Desktop PC growth was strong, which offset a decline in mobile PC shipments,” said Mikako Kitagawa, senior principal analyst at Gartner.Turning to the U.S., the overall market saw a slight 0.4 percent decline compared to the second quarter of 2018, but Apple's shipments dropped by an estimated 5.6 percent to 1.585 million. Apple maintained its fourth-place ranking in the U.S. behind HP, Dell, and Lenovo, and well ahead of Microsoft and Acer.
“Additionally, there are signs that the Intel CPU shortage is easing, which has been an ongoing impact to the market for the past 18 months. The shortage mainly impacted small and midsize vendors as large vendors took advantage and continued to grow, taking market share away from the smaller vendors that struggled to secure CPUs.”
If accurate, Gartner's estimates would put Apple with its lowest share of the U.S. PC market since the first quarter of 2014 and the lowest recorded on a global basis since Gartner started including Apple as a top global vendor in the third quarter of 2014.
IDC's estimates paint a much different picture, however, projecting worldwide PC shipment growth of 4.7 percent compared to the second quarter of 2018. IDC pegs Apple as having shipped 4.011 million Macs in the quarter for nearly 10 percent year-over-year growth.
IDC says Apple benefited from increased inventory levels due not only to the launch of new MacBook Pro models but also some proactive shipments into the distribution channels to guard against potential upcoming tariffs.
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10 weeks ago
Lenovo: Great keyboard, good prices, okay OS - Sales up big
Apple: Bad keyboard, bad pricing (storage pricing is a joke), great OS - Sales down
Seems pretty easy. Fix the keyboard, fix the storage...watch sales jump.
In 2012, the Macbook Air (!!!) had base 128GB of storage. 7 years ago. Searching for some (consumer) price history, in Mid 2013 a 128 GB SSD cost $92. Now a 500 GB costs $50, or a 1TB cost $100. The first price point for $500GB was in mid 2014 for $240.
So you could assume that Apple's 128GB SSD cost has gone from around $80 to probably $15?
The good, better, best on storage is really ****ing terrible, terrible, and acceptable on the storage side and then terrible, terrible, terrible on the price side.
Apple: Bad keyboard, bad pricing (storage pricing is a joke), great OS - Sales down
Seems pretty easy. Fix the keyboard, fix the storage...watch sales jump.
In 2012, the Macbook Air (!!!) had base 128GB of storage. 7 years ago. Searching for some (consumer) price history, in Mid 2013 a 128 GB SSD cost $92. Now a 500 GB costs $50, or a 1TB cost $100. The first price point for $500GB was in mid 2014 for $240.
So you could assume that Apple's 128GB SSD cost has gone from around $80 to probably $15?
The good, better, best on storage is really ****ing terrible, terrible, and acceptable on the storage side and then terrible, terrible, terrible on the price side.
10 weeks ago
If relying on my buying pattern... and I'm a big Apple fan when they put out some that puts function before fashion... then they are definitely on a down trend. I still have a 2012 MacBook retina pro, and none of the new laptops in 7 years has been enticing. I can still plug in USB A devices, and if I trip over the power cord, the MagSafe does a safe release. Apple share holders must hate me.
10 weeks ago
Lenovo: Great keyboard, good prices, okay OS - Sales up big
Apple: Bad keyboard, bad pricing (storage pricing is a joke), great OS - Sales down
Seems pretty easy. Fix the keyboard, fix the storage...watch sales jump.
In 2012, the Macbook Air (!!!) had base 128GB of storage. 7 years ago. Searching for some (consumer) price history, in Mid 2013 a 128 GB SSD cost $92. Now a 500 GB costs $50, or a 1TB cost $100. The first price point for $500GB was in mid 2014 for $240.
So you could assume that Apple's 128GB SSD cost has gone from around $80 to probably $15?
The good, better, best on storage is really ****ing terrible, terrible, and acceptable on the storage side and then terrible, terrible, terrible on the price side.
It’s $200 to upgrade the ram to 16gb and $400 to upgrade the ssd to 512. Surely I’m not the only person who refuses to buy a MacBook Pro because of those exorbitant prices.
10 weeks ago
to be fair.... Apple doesnt sell garbage $200 laptops to people who have no idea what they are buying...
No Apple wants to sell $2000 notebooks to people who have no idea what they are buying, that are riddled with problems due to cutting corners and poor design.
Q-6
10 weeks ago
I’d put my money on the first one being closer to the truth, judging by Apple’s move to cut (SSD upgrade) prices outside of a hardware refresh for most models. They almost never do that.
Penny pinching was starting to bite.
They didn't fix the storage pricing. They cut down the two most exorbitant cash grabs on their product catalog and left the base and next level up unchanged. It's clever cutting pricing on your two least purchased items and getting a lot of pub for it, but until they touch the stuff 90% of the people buy, it's all show.
If Apple had "courage", the base/upgrade would look like this.
MBA - RAM 8GB, 16 GB +$100 (currently is 8, 16 +$200)
MBA - SSD 256GB, 512 GB +$100, 1TB +$200 (currently is 128, 256 +$200, 512 +400, 1TB +600)
MBP - RAM 16GB, 32 GB (+150 when available) (currently is 8, 16 +$200)
MBP - SSD 512GB, 1TB +$100, 2TB +$200 (currently is 128, 256 +$200, 512 +400, 1TB +600, 2TB +1,000)
A true delineation from MPA and MPB, and storage fit for 2019.
10 weeks ago
I’d put my money on the first one being closer to the truth, judging by Apple’s move to cut (SSD upgrade) prices outside of a hardware refresh for most models. They almost never do that.
Penny pinching was starting to bite.
Penny pinching was starting to bite.
10 weeks ago
build "pro" machines that are overpriced trash that pros don't want and your market share goes down.
who could predict?!
who could predict?!
10 weeks ago
to be fair.... Apple doesnt sell garbage $200 laptops to people who have no idea what they are buying...
Nah, they sell garbage $2000 plus machines to people who have no idea what they're buying.
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