Lower MacBook sales push Apple down to sixth place in laptop marketshare

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AppleInsiderAppleInsider
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in Current Mac Hardware
A drop in MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air shipments year-over-year likewise resulted in Apple losing share in the world's declining laptop market, according to March-quarter research data.




Apple's estimated shipments slipped from 3.4 million to 2.53 million, said research firm TrendForce. That put Apple in sixth place with a 7.1 percent share, down from 8.8 percent in Q1 2015. In the most recent quarter -- Q4 2015 -- Apple controlled fifth place with 9.7 percent.

In that short-term shift, Lenovo rose from second to first place, taking 22.2 percent of the market and displacing HP, which saw its share dip 0.5 percentage points to 20.4 percent. The company that usurped Apple was Acer, which rose a spot despite its share sliding from 7.8 percent to 7.3.

Apple remained well ahead of Toshiba and Samsung, whose marketshares sat at just 2.4 and 2.2 percent, respectively.




TrendForce suggested that Apple suffered in the March quarter because it didn't have any new MacBooks ready, yet also wasn't offering any discounts. Apple's competitors, meanwhile, were putting out new PCs based on Intel's Skylake platform and taking advantage of Windows 10 adoption.

Apple did put out new laptops in April, but these were limited to a modest 12-inch MacBook upgrade, and the 13-inch MacBook Air getting 8 gigabytes of RAM by default. The Pro line has yet to be updated, and might have to wait until Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in June.
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  • Reply 1 of 50
    jackansijackansi Posts: 116member
    Expected results are expected.  

    It'll rebound if they cut prices and/or make meaningful updates without raising prices (they need to match or beat everything out there on the next update at Apple's current prices, IMO).  Otherwise, expect to see this trend continue.
    edited May 2016
    ration al6Sgoldfish
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  • Reply 2 of 50
    irelandireland Posts: 17,801member
    The MacBook is a great innovation, but a single port computer with a 12" display shouldn't start at €1,499 here. Do you think that could be one of the reasons why they are selling less of them?
    edited May 2016
    jackansicnocbuidacharxzuhungeduentropysanantksundaramnumenoreankermit4krazy
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  • Reply 3 of 50
    jbishop1039jbishop1039 Posts: 258member
    jackansi said:
    Expected results are expected.  

    It'll rebound if they cut prices and/or make meaningful updates without raising prices (they need to match or beat everything out there on the next update at Apple's current prices, IMO).  Otherwise, expect to see this trend continue.

    Have to agree with this. Great quality machines, but the overall design is becoming dated. I can see customers waiting for a refresh on the Pro line and the future of the Air is, well, up in the air at the moment. Wait and see at WWDC I guess.
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  • Reply 4 of 50
    loquiturloquitur Posts: 139member
    It is possible for Apple to not introduce hardware at WWDC.   However, it would be funny/not funny for Apple to
    have sessions on things like H.265 encode-in-hardware, and Thunderbolt 3, and even fat binaries for ARM (if it comes to that) without
    an available platform to showcase.
    edited May 2016
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  • Reply 5 of 50
    SnRasnra Posts: 65member
    ireland said:
    The MacBook is a great innovation, but a single port computer with a 12" display shouldn't start at €1,499 here. Do you think that could be one of the reasons why they are selling less of them?
    Why is it a great innovation? Certainly not the keyboard, its atrocious. 
    singularityentropyskermit4krazy
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  • Reply 6 of 50
    rogifan_newrogifan_new Posts: 4,297member
    ireland said:
    The MacBook is a great innovation, but a single port computer with a 12" display shouldn't start at €1,499 here. Do you think that could be one of the reasons why they are selling less of them?
    Original MacBook Air started at $1799. My guess is people are waiting for new MacBook Pros with Skylake.
    jbishop1039mdriftmeyerration aljems9776
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  • Reply 7 of 50
    christopher126christopher126 Posts: 4,366member
    It's a beautiful machine...

    But, i'll be getting the smaller iPad Pro, an AppleWatch and an Se for just about the price of the MacBook. Going "mobile," baby!  :)


    I currently have a 4s w/ cracked screen, an old, old, original intel white iMac that I never use running SL and a 5 year MacBookPro running El Capitan.

    Best.
    ration al
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  • Reply 8 of 50
    isteelersisteelers Posts: 738member
    SnRa said:
    ireland said:
    The MacBook is a great innovation, but a single port computer with a 12" display shouldn't start at €1,499 here. Do you think that could be one of the reasons why they are selling less of them?
    Why is it a great innovation? Certainly not the keyboard, its atrocious. 
    It is an innovative design that took a lot of engineering to fit in such a slim form factor while providing excellent battery life. The keyboard is a matter of taste.  Completely fanless, with a great display. Performance may underwhelm people, but it is not a pro-level machine. 
    williamlondonpaxmanration al
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  • Reply 9 of 50
    mdriftmeyermdriftmeyer Posts: 7,503member
    rogifan_new said:
    ireland said:
    The MacBook is a great innovation, but a single port computer with a 12" display shouldn't start at €1,499 here. Do you think that could be one of the reasons why they are selling less of them?
    Original MacBook Air started at $1799. My guess is people are waiting for new MacBook Pros with Skylake.
    You're debating Dollars while Ireland is debating Euros, not to mention MacBook Air vs. MacBook.. The MacBook should start from $899.
    entropyskermit4krazy
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  • Reply 10 of 50
    croprcropr Posts: 1,144member
    rogifan_new said:
    ireland said:
    The MacBook is a great innovation, but a single port computer with a 12" display shouldn't start at €1,499 here. Do you think that could be one of the reasons why they are selling less of them?
    Original MacBook Air started at $1799. My guess is people are waiting for new MacBook Pros with Skylake.
    I did not wait.  3 weeks ago we needed a new developer machine in my company and I bought an Ubuntu based Dell XPS 13 with Skylake processor.  It is difficult to understand why Apple has yet to launch a Macbook Pro with Skylake processor while other vendors have similar systems since end last year in their portfolio
    xzu73draysingularityentropys6Sgoldfishkermit4krazy
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  • Reply 11 of 50
    donjuandonjuan Posts: 61member
    Waiting for the 2nd gen MacBook was a bust. Was kinda hoping for a 14" model. Now waiting for the new pros. Weak...
    xzukermit4krazy
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  • Reply 12 of 50
    christopher126christopher126 Posts: 4,366member
    isteelers said:
    SnRa said:
    Why is it a great innovation? Certainly not the keyboard, its atrocious. 
    It is an innovative design that took a lot of engineering to fit in such a slim form factor while providing excellent battery life. The keyboard is a matter of taste.  Completely fanless, with a great display. Performance may underwhelm people, but it is not a pro-level machine. 
    Well said. I remember when Apple shifted from the iMac's "Atrium" style KB to the current style...took about a day to get used to and now would not even consider going back. People sure complained about it. :)

    Negative people, what are you going to do?

    Best.
    bobschlobration alsteveh
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  • Reply 13 of 50
    linkmanlinkman Posts: 1,055member
    It would be interesting to know what the percentages by brand of laptops that are in use. I'm still using a MBP from 2009 and am quite happy with it (with RAM, SSD, and battery upgrades). At work I'm on my 3rd Dell Latitude during that period, and none of them were due to hardware failures but instead obsolescence.
    ration alsteveh
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  • Reply 14 of 50
    73dray73dray Posts: 12member
    If Apple still updated computers on a consistent basis like they used too, their numbers would not slump. We've been waiting for years for an update to the Macbook Air. The underpowered and small screen Macbook wasn't it.
    entropyskermit4krazy
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  • Reply 15 of 50
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,468member
    cropr said:
    I did not wait.  3 weeks ago we needed a new developer machine in my company and I bought an Ubuntu based Dell XPS 13 with Skylake processor.  It is difficult to understand why Apple has yet to launch a Macbook Pro with Skylake processor while other vendors have similar systems since end last year in their portfolio
    Because the chipsets appropriate for the MBP are not out yet. The first products shipping with chips like the 6770HQ are just about to ship (Skull Canyon NUC for example). They have not been available til this quarter, which is exactly why you haven't seen MBPs out yet. That, and possibly the new dGPUs which are just about to be released. 

    People don't understand that there are many variants of Skylake that have been rolling out since last year. 
    ration alsteveh
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  • Reply 16 of 50
    bobschlobbobschlob Posts: 1,074member
    donjuan said:
    Waiting for the 2nd gen MacBook was a bust. Was kinda hoping for a 14" model. Now waiting for the new pros. Weak...
    Then you were not waiting for 2nd get MacBook. You were waiting for something else altogether.
    ration alfastasleepstevehkpom
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  • Reply 17 of 50
    toddzrxtoddzrx Posts: 254member
    linkman said:
    It would be interesting to know what the percentages by brand of laptops that are in use. I'm still using a MBP from 2009 and am quite happy with it (with RAM, SSD, and battery upgrades). At work I'm on my 3rd Dell Latitude during that period, and none of them were due to hardware failures but instead obsolescence.
    Agreed.

    I'm on my second Apple computer in, literally, a decade as of this month.  My first was the first 17" MBP in 2006, my second and current machine is a 2010 iMac.  The SSD upgrade I performed on the MBP was simply moved to the iMac and, along with 8GB RAM, still works great.

    OTOH, I'm on my 4th work computer since 2008 when I started my current position.  And the latest laptop, a Dell Latitude, is slower than the iMac because it uses a spinner. :/
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 18 of 50
    hungeduhungedu Posts: 15member
    The 12" Retina Macbook with no significant updates was a nail in the coffin for Mac sales this year. People have other choices now, like the new HP Spectre that sports multiple USB-C ports and is just as thin.
    cnocbuikermit4krazygatorguy
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  • Reply 19 of 50
    toddzrxtoddzrx Posts: 254member
    Given Apple's declining iPhone sales, it'd be nice to see them put some renewed vigor into their computer lines.  Every design is at least 3 years old except for the MacBook and the Pro (which is going on 2 and a half).  I think embracing USB-C/TB3 allows for the redesigns that would re-kindle some excitement in the Mac.
    kermit4krazy
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  • Reply 20 of 50
    jibberjjibberj Posts: 35member
    I've been waiting to buy 3 new MBP's for the update. It can't come soon enough for me. Apple, please take my cash.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
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