Apple Could See 20% On-Quarter Growth in 3Q20 MacBook Shipments

Apple will "significantly increase" MacBook Pro orders with suppliers in the third quarter of this year as the back-to-school season kicks off, according to supply chain sources.

macos catalina imac macbook pro
DigiTimes reports that Apple is also set to respond to increasing sales in the creative market, with the number of professionals working from home expected to remain strong in the second half of the year as some countries begin re-imposing regional and city lockdowns in response to the continuing global health crisis.

The upstream supply chain originally believed demand from the work-from-home group would only be short-term, but is now expecting the momentum to last much longer than anticipated, the sources said.

Apple shipped 3.2-3.5 million MacBooks in the second quarter of 2020, and the volumes are expected to grow to around four million units in the third quarter, according to DigiTimes sources. Apple will see its overall MacBook shipments rise over 20 percent in the third quarter as a result.

Apple has said it plans to deliver the first ‌Mac powered by Apple Silicon by the end of the year, as the two-year-long transition away from Intel commences, but we don't know for sure when the first Arm-based Mac will arrive or which model it will be.

According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, a 13.3-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ with a form factor similar to the current 13.3-inch ‌‌MacBook Pro‌‌ could be the first Mac to get an Arm-based chip designed by Apple.

Kuo expects the ‌‌Apple Silicon‌‌ 13.3-inch ‌‌MacBook Pro‌‌ to go into mass production in the fourth quarter of this year, but he also predicts we will see an Arm-based MacBook Air either in the same quarter or in the first quarter of next year.

Apple is also expected to launch a redesigned ‌iMac‌ this year, although it's not expected to be an ‌‌Apple Silicon‌‌ machine. Apple has said it still has Intel-based Macs in the pipeline, suggesting they are likely to arrive before the year's end.

Popular Stories

Google maps feaure

Google Maps Quietly Added This Long-Overdue Feature for Drivers

Wednesday December 10, 2025 2:52 am PST by
Google Maps on iOS quietly gained a new feature recently that automatically recognizes where you've parked your vehicle and saves the location for you. Announced on LinkedIn by Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' senior product manager, the new feature auto-detects your parked location even if you don't use the parking pin function, saves it for up to 48 hours, and then automatically removes it once...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature 1

Apple to Make More Foldable iPhones Than Expected [Updated]

Tuesday December 9, 2025 9:59 am PST by
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports. In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...
iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features on Your iPhone

Thursday December 11, 2025 8:49 am PST by
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon. Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week. iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
iOS 26

15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.2

Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below. Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3

Thursday December 11, 2025 11:28 am PST by
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3 and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B30, up from 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 firmware is 8B28, up from 8B21. There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3 are getting expanded support for Live Translation in the European Union in iOS...
iOS 26

Apple Seeds Second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to Developers and Public Beta Testers

Monday December 8, 2025 10:18 am PST by
Apple today seeded the second release candidate version of iOS 26.2 to developers and public beta testers, with the software coming one week after Apple seeded the first RC. The release candidate represents the final version iOS 26.2 that will be provided to the public if no further bugs are found. Registered developers and public beta testers can download the betas from the Settings app on...
iPhone 14 Pro Dynamic Island

iPhone 18 Pro Leak Adds New Evidence for Under-Display Face ID

Monday December 8, 2025 4:54 am PST by
Apple is actively testing under-screen Face ID for next year's iPhone 18 Pro models using a special "spliced micro-transparent glass" window built into the display, claims a Chinese leaker. According to "Smart Pikachu," a Weibo account that has previously shared accurate supply-chain details on Chinese Android hardware, Apple is testing the special glass as a way to let the TrueDepth...
ipad blue prime day

iPad 12 Rumored to Get iPhone 17's A19 Chip, Breaking Apple Tradition

Wednesday December 10, 2025 12:22 pm PST by
The next-generation low-cost iPad will use Apple's A19 chip, according to a report from Macworld. Macworld claims to have seen an "internal Apple code document" with information about the 2026 iPad lineup. Prior documentation discovered by MacRumors suggested that the iPad 12 would be equipped with an A18 chip, not an A19 chip. The A19 chip was just released this year in the iPhone 17, and...
AirTag 2 Mock Feature

Apple AirTag 2: Four New Features Found in iOS 26 Code

Thursday December 11, 2025 10:31 am PST by
The AirTag 2 will include a handful of new features that will improve tracking capabilities, according to a new report from Macworld. The site says that it was able to access an internal build of iOS 26, which includes references to multiple unreleased products. Here's what's supposedly coming: An improved pairing process, though no details were provided. AirTag pairing is already...
iPhone 17 Pro Cosmic Orange

10 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 18 Pro

Monday December 1, 2025 2:40 am PST by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth...

Top Rated Comments

ericwn Avatar
71 months ago
Yeah, they're getting bought by all the power users that wish to have a cross-platform professional computer before they become glorified walled-gardened toys. Of course they won't care about this signal from the market and see it as positive.
Oh, a coat of new paint on that old APPLE IS DOOMED!!! sign? Splendid!
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
yellow8 Avatar
71 months ago
I predict a sales boost when macbooks with Apple silicon will be available.
Call me a visionary :p
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Woochoo Avatar
71 months ago

Well, someone has to buy up all the Intel-based Macs before their Arm-based replacements hit the market.
They won't stop selling many Intel Macs until 2021 at least: if rumours are true MBP 14" and 16" aren't going ARM at least until April 2021.
So that's not the reason, the reason is covid raising overall laptops demand. I've read some days ago that the demand this year went as high as back in 2009 (just before it started slowly declining yearly). Now add that to the "back to school" season where most laptops (bud iPads and iPhones aswell) are sold, and there you go.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PickUrPoison Avatar
71 months ago

Yeah, they're getting bought by all the power users that wish to have a cross-platform professional computer before they become glorified walled-gardened toys. Of course they won't care about this signal from the market and see it as positive.
MacOS computers are transitioning to Apple silicon regardless of next quarter’s sales. It’s been in process for many years.


yawn. digitimes. ignore them and move on. they're almost never right with their rumors.
I think (maybe) they’re better lately than they’ve been in the past, but they’d almost have to be considering their miserable track record say >2 years ago
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ericwn Avatar
71 months ago
I predict a sales boost when macbooks with Apple silicon will be available.
Call me a visionary :p
Those with visions should see a doctor. :D
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
farewelwilliams Avatar
71 months ago

Or maybe the sources are true but fooled by Apple.
i'd still equate that as wrong
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)