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

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
apple watch ultra 2 new black

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Finally Coming After Two-Year Hiatus

Monday June 16, 2025 8:45 am PDT by
Apple will finally deliver the Apple Watch Ultra 3 sometime this year, according to analyst Jeff Pu of GF Securities Hong Kong (via @jukanlosreve). The analyst expects both the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 to arrive this year (likely alongside the new iPhone 17 lineup, if previous launches are anything to go by), according to his latest product roadmap shared with...
apple watch ultra snow

6 Features Coming to the Apple Watch Ultra 3

Tuesday February 25, 2025 9:00 am PST by
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements. While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way. By the time the ...
terminal macos tahoe

Apple's Terminal App Gets Colorful Redesign in macOS Tahoe

Monday June 16, 2025 4:12 am PDT by
Apple's Terminal app is getting a visual refresh in macOS Tahoe, and it's the first notable design update since the command-line tool debuted. The updated Terminal will support 24-bit color and Powerline fonts, according to Apple's State of the Platforms presentation at WWDC25. The app will also adopt the new Liquid Glass aesthetic with redesigned themes that align with macOS 26's broader...
Logitech Logo Feature

Logitech Announces Two New Accessories for WWDC

Friday June 13, 2025 7:22 am PDT by
Alongside WWDC this week, Logitech announced notable new accessories for the iPad and Apple Vision Pro. The Logitech Muse is a spatially-tracked stylus developed for use with the Apple Vision Pro. Introduced during the WWDC 2025 keynote address, Muse is intended to support the next generation of spatial computing workflows enabled by visionOS 26. The device incorporates six degrees of...
iPadOS 26 App Windowing

Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

Friday June 13, 2025 7:46 am PDT by
iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why. In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like ...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 am PDT 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 simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

Apple Says iOS 26 Won't Be Available on These iPhone Models

Tuesday June 10, 2025 6:58 am PDT by
Apple this week revealed that iOS 26 is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer. That means that iOS 18 is the end of the road for the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR, which were all released in 2018. However, those devices will continue to receive security updates for at least a few more years. iOS 26 is compatible with the following iPhone models: iPhone 16e iPhone...

Top Rated Comments

ericwn Avatar
64 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
64 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
64 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
64 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
64 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
64 months ago

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