Bring new Macs with Intel Sky Lake and standard ports for all Apple devices: Thunderbolt 3, USB 3.1 Type-C (reversible) and SDXC with extra pins supporting maximum 300 MB/s read/write speed.
Baloney. This has absolutely NOTHING to do with the slowdown in PC sales worldwide
While I'm no fan of outfits like IDC I find this headline quite disingenuous. The headline makes it sound like a general slowdown in the industry yet the chart only shows Apple, Lenovo and whatever the heck other is with declines. Apple's decline is no doubt due to people waiting for new MPBs and an updated Mac Pro (which hasn't seen a significant update since 2013).
Exactly. People just like me. Waiting for whatever that funky rumoured touch bar is all about.
If Apple payed more attention to its Mac line with more frequent updates and redesigns, I'm sure they'd be doing much better than these current abysmal statistics seem to indicate. Personally I'm a much bigger fan of the Mac than the iPhone. They're losing their emphasis on product, a side effect of Cooks management style I suspect.
Gartner had the Mac gaining market share relative to the PC market (Apple down 4.9%, PC market down 5.2%). IDC shows Apple actually losing market share for like the 2nd time in the last 10 years or so. I expect something big coming to the MacPro line at a minimum, perhaps the entire Mac line with the next iOS/macOS release in September.
It's because many anticipate a new mac coming this fall.. Sales always lag at this time of year.. they fell last year this time to zero growth in anticipation of new Macbook.. With everyone expecting a complete redesign on the Macbook Pro.. Not sure how anything but the media to be surprised.
One cannot always wait. I own a SW company and hired recently 2 new SW engineers. In the past such people got a MBP, now I've bought them a linux based Dell XPS13 with Skylake processor. Apple lost this opportunity. I cannot understand that Apple does not manage to launch a Skylake MBP, while other manufacturers made similar configurations available around Christmas. Apple is neglecting its Mac line, its management is to blame
"The 4.9 percent sales contraction was the worst performance put in by a top-five vendor..."
There's no way to spin that as a positive.
The only thing you could say is that Apple's doesn't have any updated machines for sale. No one wants to buy a laptop with a 2-year-old processor in it (at the same price as when it was new!)
However... if Apple had released some amazing new machines... and still no one bought them... then you could panic.
But that's not what happened here.
Simply put... Apple's sales are slumping because they haven't had any new machines to offer. They should pick up later this year though... hopefully...
Hang on, what? Less computers were sold worldwide than they were last year but Apple kept the same percentage sales. Seems to me they have done well considering the market.
All the other companies on that list sell cheap, cut price computers. Apple are the only company there selling top quality items. Reorder that list to show overall profit and I bet Apple is way out front.
However, on the flip side, they do need an iMac and Mac Pro refresh. On the iMac, they need to be less concerned about it being the thinnest desktop computer on the market (at the edge) and make it a better design that allows for adding memory etc. put the SD card port back on the side, maybe add a headphone port on the side and even a single USB port. Some often used ports just so you don't have to move your iMac to plug in temporary devices. Sizes are good but I'd like to see an option for a larger screen too, maybe even ultrawide.
The Mac Pro needs something too. The new chips, big spec boost. Even making it a fraction larger to give you room for another HDD. I will soon be in the market for a Mac Pro but I would be hesitant to lay down that sort of money for a 3 year old computer.
Bought the top of the line Retina 15" MBP when it came out (in late summer 2012) and it still is my main machine – battery still has 93% capacity after almost four years, the display is gorgeous and it is fast enough for almost everything. (I could use more RAM sometimes, but even the current models do not offer more than 16 GB.) With machines that good, and the progress in CPUs being virtually zip... It is hard to deliver reasons for an upgrade. These dynamic function keys could be that reason, but without HDMI-out (something I need every day), not even that may be enough. I certainly will not buy more dongles – the amount of times I ended up somewhere without my Ethernet adapter and could not do nothing has taught me that.
I want an Ethernet port, a sleep light and an external battery indicator (the things my 12" PowerBook had over a decade ago)... Add in an option for 32 GB RAM and they can have my $4k+ today.
I have exactly the same 15". Is the insulation on your power cable still intact? Mine is crumbling and splitting horribly, despite it being nearly two years younger than the machine because I had the original replaced for the same reason.
I can't understand how you can have 97% battery capacity. Mine would be more like 50% or less and if I click on the power icon in the menu bar it says 'Service battery', which has been displayed for almost a year now.
Perhaps sales of the no-ports Macbook 12" haven't exactly been very good and people don't actually think less, is more.
Seriously, is this any surprise!!? So few updates to the Mac lineup over the past couple of years and updates seem to take the hardware backwards by removing ports. They have totally lost their direction and become obsessed with applying phone thinking to laptop design. And don't mention the MacPro, because they don't. I've needed a new 'pro' machine for the past 18 months, but have no idea what the future of that platform is, so looks like some Win10 machine will be purchased by me very soon.
So is Apple just assuming that people are heavily enough invested in OS X or hate Windows badly enough they'll just wait it out until Apple does update their line? Does Apple completely skip Skylake then?
Apple is never going to be #1 in marketshare, so who cares. Making a nice profit is what matters, not making cheap junk and selling it to cheap people.
What's better? 100 pounds of feces or 1 pound of pure gold? Which would you rather have?
Well said. The computer company graveyard is full of companies that didn't understand the difference between market share vs profits on quality products. Producing poor quality low grade systems sold at Walmart and Target for market share isn't going to create repeat customers.
The truth is is that the PC industry as a whole is collapsing and those that are showing higher market share this year will drop next year after the mass market is complete in fill up. The repeat customers will be those that need to replace systems that have stopped working. Apple has a base of customers that are willing to buy at a premium price and continue to upgrade on a consistent basis.
"The 4.9 percent sales contraction was the worst performance put in by a top-five vendor..."
There's no way to spin that as a positive.
The only thing you could say is that Apple's doesn't have any updated machines for sale. No one wants to buy a laptop with a 2-year-old processor in it (at the same price as when it was new!)
However... if Apple had released some amazing new machines... and still no one bought them... then you could panic.
But that's not what happened here.
Simply put... Apple's sales are slumping because they haven't had any new machines to offer. They should pick up later this year though... hopefully...
That's not spinning it as a positive though. That's making an excuse for why it's happening. That Apple hasn't kept the Mac line up to date since Steve's death is no one's fault but their own. If they don't announce some bold improvements soon, I'm about three months from giving up on them for my small business needs.
Apple is never going to be #1 in marketshare, so who cares. Making a nice profit is what matters, not making cheap junk and selling it to cheap people.
What's better? 100 pounds of feces or 1 pound of pure gold? Which would you rather have?
Well said. The computer company graveyard is full of companies that didn't understand the difference between market share vs profits on quality products. Producing poor quality low grade systems sold at Walmart and Target for market share isn't going to create repeat customers.
The truth is is that the PC industry as a whole is collapsing and those that are showing higher market share this year will drop next year after the mass market is complete in fill up. The repeat customers will be those that need to replace systems that have stopped working. Apple has a base of customers that are willing to buy at a premium price and continue to upgrade on a consistent basis.
Are you not listening? This thread is filled with Apple users complaining about a LACK of viable upgrade options to their aging Macs. I'm one of them. I've been a hardcore Mac user for a decade, but I'm being driven away by Apple's idiot decisions for the past few years when it comes to Mac hardware and software. They're making all the same mistakes Sony did in the early 2000s with the Vaio line.
Very sorry to see this, but not surprised. The last time I recall Apple doing anything really impressive with the Mac was when they introduced the 5k iMac, but that's been a while now. The laptop lineup is stagnant; the Mac Mini and Mac Pro are pathetic. I just don't get it.
Nonsense and nothing to with the worldwide slowdown in PC sales. It’s just your ilk looking for an excuse to bloviate and repeat your spoon fed meme about innovation. There is no spec war or innovation dearth, only people leaving PCs behind for smartphones and tablets, something the “real work can only be done on a PC” crowd couldn’t understand if their lives depended on it. Accept the truth of why PC/Mac sales are down worldwide instead of trying to explain it with your PC bias.
Check your calendar -- this isn't 2011. iPad sales have been in steady decline for years. The iPhone isn't exactly setting the world on fire, either. You can't argue anymore that Apple can ignore the Mac because the future is with tablets and smartphones.
Apple cannot ignore anything. They need to push all product lines forward. I think they are doing a reasonably good job of that with the iPhone and the Apple Watch. I think the iPad got big faster than they were prepared to handle and now they are playing catch-up, but I think they are making good progress -- I think it will grow again eventually. But the Mac needs some serious attention.
The thing that strikes me as particularly bizarre about the Mac situation is that there seems to be a lot of low-hanging fruit -- changes they could make and products they could introduce that don't require any huge breakthrough. They didn't *have* to move the Mac Mini to a form factor so small that it can't support a quad core CPU, for example. It would not violate the laws of physics to have a version of the Mac Pro with two CPUs and one GPU, or to update the Mac Pro more often than every 3 years. Just by offering a little bit more model diversity -- and keeping those models up to date with CPU and GPU -- they could probably have been flat this past quarter rather than down.
Beyond model diversity, there's also some fairly non-earth-shattering improvements they could make. How about TouchID for Macs? How about a more complete line of hardware for time machine backups? How about external fusion drives that connect via thunderbolt? 5k external display?
One thing that will be great once it's done is the new file system, if for no other reason that it means an end to the spinning beach ball when an external hard drive spins up for a time machine backup. But sheesh -- that should have been done forever ago.
Btw, you assume incorrectly when you say that I'm a PC guy. I own a 2009 Mac Pro, a 2014 iMac, an iPad Air, an iPhone 6+, and an Apple Watch. My first Apple computer was an Apple IIe in 1983. I have long used and appreciated Apple products. Perhaps you are a blind follower, but I'm not -- I love Apple, but that doesn't mean I ignore problems.
I have exactly the same 15". Is the insulation on your power cable still intact? Mine is crumbling and splitting horribly, despite it being nearly two years younger than the machine because I had the original replaced for the same reason.
So is Apple just assuming that people are heavily enough invested in OS X or hate Windows badly enough they'll just wait it out until Apple does update their line?
Yes, I remember Microsoft thought that no one as going to move away from Windows Mobile.
The only thing keeping the Mac afloat right now is Microsoft behaving like an ass. HP is matching Apple on the thin and light, and doing it with an extra port or two thrown in.
Bring new Macs with Intel Sky Lake and standard ports for all Apple devices: Thunderbolt 3, USB 3.1 Type-C (reversible) and SDXC with extra pins supporting maximum 300 MB/s read/write speed.
Baloney. This has absolutely NOTHING to do with the slowdown in PC sales worldwide
Yes, because people are using phones and pads (although pad sales are also down) instead of computers and because what most people need in corporate environments (Word, Excel, Outlook, presentation software and enterprise applications) can easily be accomplished on a ten-year-old computer. Not to mention that the economy still sucks in many markets and even where it doesn't, consumers and corporations seem nervous about spending anyway. The places I consult for spend money on new servers (a business Apple is no longer in), but they haven't bought new computers in years.
But having said that, Apple has not given Apple customers very many reasons to upgrade and in fact, have given them many reasons not to. I'm writing this on a late-2008 MBP, which is still fine for everything except video editing, which I can do, but I'm not seeing every frame because the machine can't keep up and video processing is slow. But if I buy a current new Mac, I give up the internal DVD drive (which I still actually do use frequently), a replaceable battery, upgradable memory (although I've already upgraded to the max) and consumer replaceable storage (which I've upgraded twice).
I am thinking about buying a new Mac when the new MBP's come out, but only if there's a really good reason to upgrade and for that I need to see Apple not just adding the same standard components that everyone else has already done, but making technological advances beyond what everyone else has done. IMO, Apple's obsession with making the case thin at the cost of being able to upgrade and maintain the machine was a bad decision that's now coming home to roost, but I don't expect them to change this as long as Ive is there. And I absolutely will not buy a machine with only one port (like the current MacBook) - who the hell thought that was a good idea? Again, this is obsession with what it looks like instead of what it does. If they pull that crap on the next MBP, it's goodbye to Apple for me once my current machine dies or becomes impractical to use.
And they also need to be back on the leading edge of technology to convince non-Mac users to buy a Mac.
In other words, instead of another line of iterative machines, Apple needs to "blow everyone away". I think they no longer know how to do that. I think maybe Apple has gotten too large and they've now become overweight and slow. Maybe it's time to streamline the company. It's hard to understand what the hell all those employees are doing when all we see is iteration across the board (the Watch a notable exception, but that's apparently not doing that great).
But maybe Apple doesn't care because selling under 20 million units a year just isn't all that interesting to them anymore and they're off looking for bigger businesses, like the supposed Apple Car.
Just plug into our projector, doh did not bring the adapter.
Wifi is down just plug into our ethernet, doh did not bring the adapter.
Buy a magazine, the sample images for the tutorial are on the DVD, doh!
Go to get files of fire wire drive, doh did not bring the adapter.
upgrade ram ... doh its soldered in.
go on a trip i have a bag full of damn adapter cables and bulky dvd drive.
my old old mac book pro had NONE of these problems, a nicer keyboard and I could swap out a flat battery to keep working away from a power point.
aside from performance my new mac book pro is an inferior more expensive machine.
the only thing keeping me now is the OS.
How many Windows notebooks have DVD drives anymore? Also, look at the ASUS Zenbook 3 and HP Spectre. They are flagship devices that have USB-C ports only. I'd rather carry an adapter when I need than lug around a bunch of ports I don't need 100% of the time.
It's because many anticipate a new mac coming this fall.. Sales always lag at this time of year.. they fell last year this time to zero growth in anticipation of new Macbook.. With everyone expecting a complete redesign on the Macbook Pro.. Not sure how anything but the media to be surprised.
One cannot always wait. I own a SW company and hired recently 2 new SW engineers. In the past such people got a MBP, now I've bought them a linux based Dell XPS13 with Skylake processor. Apple lost this opportunity. I cannot understand that Apple does not manage to launch a Skylake MBP, while other manufacturers made similar configurations available around Christmas. Apple is neglecting its Mac line, its management is to blame
And the drivers were so buggy that most early Skylake laptops crashed a lot until Intel released updated drivers in April. Also, the 28W Skylake processors that are suitable for the MacBook Pro just came out a few weeks ago, not back around Christmas. It's clear that the MacBook Air is on the way out (hence it didn't get a Skylake update), and likely the 28W chips either weren't available in sufficient quantities for a Q3-16 MacBook Pro launch, or Apple decided to use the delay to make way for a more radical redesign. Also, CPU performance hasn't improved significantly from Haswell to Broadwell to Skylake (the optimizations have been mostly power management and the GPU).
The only thing you could say is that Apple's doesn't have any updated machines for sale. No one wants to buy a laptop with a 2-year-old processor in it (at the same price as when it was new!)
However... if Apple had released some amazing new machines... and still no one bought them... then you could panic.
But that's not what happened here.
Simply put... Apple's sales are slumping because they haven't had any new machines to offer. They should pick up later this year though... hopefully...
That's not spinning it as a positive though. That's making an excuse for why it's happening. That Apple hasn't kept the Mac line up to date since Steve's death is no one's fault but their own. If they don't announce some bold improvements soon, I'm about three months from giving up on them for my small business needs.
Remember when Steve Jobs came out with a brand new line of MacBook Air and 13" MacBook Pro models in October 2010 with aging Core 2 Duo chips after everyone else had already switched to the Core i5/i7?
Comments
However... if Apple had released some amazing new machines... and still no one bought them... then you could panic.
But that's not what happened here.
Simply put... Apple's sales are slumping because they haven't had any new machines to offer. They should pick up later this year though... hopefully...
Less computers were sold worldwide than they were last year but Apple kept the same percentage sales.
Seems to me they have done well considering the market.
All the other companies on that list sell cheap, cut price computers. Apple are the only company there selling top quality items.
Reorder that list to show overall profit and I bet Apple is way out front.
However, on the flip side, they do need an iMac and Mac Pro refresh.
On the iMac, they need to be less concerned about it being the thinnest desktop computer on the market (at the edge) and make it a better design that allows for adding memory etc. put the SD card port back on the side, maybe add a headphone port on the side and even a single USB port. Some often used ports just so you don't have to move your iMac to plug in temporary devices.
Sizes are good but I'd like to see an option for a larger screen too, maybe even ultrawide.
The Mac Pro needs something too. The new chips, big spec boost. Even making it a fraction larger to give you room for another HDD.
I will soon be in the market for a Mac Pro but I would be hesitant to lay down that sort of money for a 3 year old computer.
I can't understand how you can have 97% battery capacity. Mine would be more like 50% or less and if I click on the power icon in the menu bar it says 'Service battery', which has been displayed for almost a year now.
Perhaps sales of the no-ports Macbook 12" haven't exactly been very good and people don't actually think less, is more.
The truth is is that the PC industry as a whole is collapsing and those that are showing higher market share this year will drop next year after the mass market is complete in fill up. The repeat customers will be those that need to replace systems that have stopped working. Apple has a base of customers that are willing to buy at a premium price and continue to upgrade on a consistent basis.
Apple cannot ignore anything. They need to push all product lines forward. I think they are doing a reasonably good job of that with the iPhone and the Apple Watch. I think the iPad got big faster than they were prepared to handle and now they are playing catch-up, but I think they are making good progress -- I think it will grow again eventually. But the Mac needs some serious attention.
The thing that strikes me as particularly bizarre about the Mac situation is that there seems to be a lot of low-hanging fruit -- changes they could make and products they could introduce that don't require any huge breakthrough. They didn't *have* to move the Mac Mini to a form factor so small that it can't support a quad core CPU, for example. It would not violate the laws of physics to have a version of the Mac Pro with two CPUs and one GPU, or to update the Mac Pro more often than every 3 years. Just by offering a little bit more model diversity -- and keeping those models up to date with CPU and GPU -- they could probably have been flat this past quarter rather than down.
Beyond model diversity, there's also some fairly non-earth-shattering improvements they could make. How about TouchID for Macs? How about a more complete line of hardware for time machine backups? How about external fusion drives that connect via thunderbolt? 5k external display?
One thing that will be great once it's done is the new file system, if for no other reason that it means an end to the spinning beach ball when an external hard drive spins up for a time machine backup. But sheesh -- that should have been done forever ago.
Btw, you assume incorrectly when you say that I'm a PC guy. I own a 2009 Mac Pro, a 2014 iMac, an iPad Air, an iPhone 6+, and an Apple Watch. My first Apple computer was an Apple IIe in 1983. I have long used and appreciated Apple products. Perhaps you are a blind follower, but I'm not -- I love Apple, but that doesn't mean I ignore problems.
Yes, I remember Microsoft thought that no one as going to move away from Windows Mobile.
The only thing keeping the Mac afloat right now is Microsoft behaving like an ass. HP is matching Apple on the thin and light, and doing it with an extra port or two thrown in.
But having said that, Apple has not given Apple customers very many reasons to upgrade and in fact, have given them many reasons not to. I'm writing this on a late-2008 MBP, which is still fine for everything except video editing, which I can do, but I'm not seeing every frame because the machine can't keep up and video processing is slow. But if I buy a current new Mac, I give up the internal DVD drive (which I still actually do use frequently), a replaceable battery, upgradable memory (although I've already upgraded to the max) and consumer replaceable storage (which I've upgraded twice).
I am thinking about buying a new Mac when the new MBP's come out, but only if there's a really good reason to upgrade and for that I need to see Apple not just adding the same standard components that everyone else has already done, but making technological advances beyond what everyone else has done. IMO, Apple's obsession with making the case thin at the cost of being able to upgrade and maintain the machine was a bad decision that's now coming home to roost, but I don't expect them to change this as long as Ive is there. And I absolutely will not buy a machine with only one port (like the current MacBook) - who the hell thought that was a good idea? Again, this is obsession with what it looks like instead of what it does. If they pull that crap on the next MBP, it's goodbye to Apple for me once my current machine dies or becomes impractical to use.
And they also need to be back on the leading edge of technology to convince non-Mac users to buy a Mac.
In other words, instead of another line of iterative machines, Apple needs to "blow everyone away". I think they no longer know how to do that. I think maybe Apple has gotten too large and they've now become overweight and slow. Maybe it's time to streamline the company. It's hard to understand what the hell all those employees are doing when all we see is iteration across the board (the Watch a notable exception, but that's apparently not doing that great).
But maybe Apple doesn't care because selling under 20 million units a year just isn't all that interesting to them anymore and they're off looking for bigger businesses, like the supposed Apple Car.