Apple Mac sales slip in Q2 despite new hardware launches
Despite the debut of a slew of new Mac products in June, Apple's PC sales dipped in the second quarter of 2017, though greater losses from competitors helped buoy the tech giant's overall market share, according to estimates from market research firm Gartner.
According to Gartner's latest statistics, published on Wednesday, Apple rose one spot to end the quarter in fourth place with 4.24 million units shipped. The performance was down 0.4 percent compared to last year, when the company sold 4.25 million Macs. For the quarter, Apple captured 6.9 percent of the worldwide market, up from 6.7 percent in the second quarter of 2016.
Chinese PC maker Lenovo saw a decline in the period, dropping from 13.3 million units shipped in 2016 to 12.2 million units in the most recent quarter, a sales decline of 8.4 percent. The slip allowed HP to sneak into first place with a 20.8 percent share of the market on 12.7 million shipments, up a modest 3.3 percent year-over-year.
Dell rounded out the top three with 9.6 million units shipped, translating to a 15.6 percent market share, up 1.4 percent on the year. Asus and Acer placed a respective fifth and sixth, though both budget firms suffered massive declines. Asus sold 4 million units for a 6.6 percent share of the market, down 10.3 percent year on year, while Acer shipments slipped 12.5 percent to end the quarter at an estimated 3.9 million units for a 6.3 percent share.
Despite the slowdown in sales from major vendors Lenovo, Apple, Asus and Acer, overall PC shipments were up 4.3 percent on a year-over-year basis.
"Higher PC prices due to the impact of component shortages for DRAM, solid state drives (SSDs) and LCD panels had a pronounced negative impact on PC demand in the second quarter of 2017," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. "The approach to higher component costs varied by vendor. Some decided to absorb the component price hike without raising the final price of their devices, while other vendors transferred the costs to the end-user price."
The results are curious considering Apple debuted a slate of new and refreshed hardware, including MacBook, MacBook Pro and iMac, at a special event in June. More peculiar are Gartner's estimates for the U.S., one of Mac's strongest markets.
Gartner's numbers show a 9.6 percent decline in Mac shipments for Apple's domestic market on shipments of 1.7 million units. Apple managed to maintain its fourth place spot with an 11.8 percent market share. Third-place finisher Lenovo saw shipment declines of 16.3 percent, ending the quarter with 1.9 million units shipped, good enough for 13.2 percent of the market.
HP held on to the No. 1 spot in the U.S., growing its stake to 30.5 percent on 4.3 million unit shipments, while Dell placed second with a 27.7 percent market share and 3.9 million units shipped.
Apple fared better in numbers released by IDC today, which place worldwide Mac shipments at 4.3 million for the quarter, up 1.7 percent year-over-year. Apple captured 7.2 percent of the market to take fourth place, the firm said.
Like Gartner's estimates, IDC has HP leading the pack with 13.8 million units shipped for a 22.8 percent share of the worldwide market, up 6.2 percent. Lenovo dropped 5.7 percent on the year to take second place with 12.4 million shipments and 20.5 percent of the market, while Dell came in third with 10.3 million units shipped and a 17.1 percent market share. Asus rounded out the top five with 4.1 million units shipped, down 8.6 percent from the same period last year.
According to Gartner's latest statistics, published on Wednesday, Apple rose one spot to end the quarter in fourth place with 4.24 million units shipped. The performance was down 0.4 percent compared to last year, when the company sold 4.25 million Macs. For the quarter, Apple captured 6.9 percent of the worldwide market, up from 6.7 percent in the second quarter of 2016.
Chinese PC maker Lenovo saw a decline in the period, dropping from 13.3 million units shipped in 2016 to 12.2 million units in the most recent quarter, a sales decline of 8.4 percent. The slip allowed HP to sneak into first place with a 20.8 percent share of the market on 12.7 million shipments, up a modest 3.3 percent year-over-year.
Dell rounded out the top three with 9.6 million units shipped, translating to a 15.6 percent market share, up 1.4 percent on the year. Asus and Acer placed a respective fifth and sixth, though both budget firms suffered massive declines. Asus sold 4 million units for a 6.6 percent share of the market, down 10.3 percent year on year, while Acer shipments slipped 12.5 percent to end the quarter at an estimated 3.9 million units for a 6.3 percent share.
Despite the slowdown in sales from major vendors Lenovo, Apple, Asus and Acer, overall PC shipments were up 4.3 percent on a year-over-year basis.
"Higher PC prices due to the impact of component shortages for DRAM, solid state drives (SSDs) and LCD panels had a pronounced negative impact on PC demand in the second quarter of 2017," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. "The approach to higher component costs varied by vendor. Some decided to absorb the component price hike without raising the final price of their devices, while other vendors transferred the costs to the end-user price."
The results are curious considering Apple debuted a slate of new and refreshed hardware, including MacBook, MacBook Pro and iMac, at a special event in June. More peculiar are Gartner's estimates for the U.S., one of Mac's strongest markets.
Gartner's numbers show a 9.6 percent decline in Mac shipments for Apple's domestic market on shipments of 1.7 million units. Apple managed to maintain its fourth place spot with an 11.8 percent market share. Third-place finisher Lenovo saw shipment declines of 16.3 percent, ending the quarter with 1.9 million units shipped, good enough for 13.2 percent of the market.
HP held on to the No. 1 spot in the U.S., growing its stake to 30.5 percent on 4.3 million unit shipments, while Dell placed second with a 27.7 percent market share and 3.9 million units shipped.
Apple fared better in numbers released by IDC today, which place worldwide Mac shipments at 4.3 million for the quarter, up 1.7 percent year-over-year. Apple captured 7.2 percent of the market to take fourth place, the firm said.
Like Gartner's estimates, IDC has HP leading the pack with 13.8 million units shipped for a 22.8 percent share of the worldwide market, up 6.2 percent. Lenovo dropped 5.7 percent on the year to take second place with 12.4 million shipments and 20.5 percent of the market, while Dell came in third with 10.3 million units shipped and a 17.1 percent market share. Asus rounded out the top five with 4.1 million units shipped, down 8.6 percent from the same period last year.
Comments
Myself and no one I know bought the MacBook Pro redesign even though we used to buy the new model every year. The problem is the ports and the touch bar. We disagreed with Schiller who said the new MBPs are selling great.
- I disagree with Apple moving to a lower cost computer. Apple's computers must focus on delivering the most efficiency (that includes cost/benefit ratio, productivity, lifecycle etc) to be the market winners. Market winners by the way are NOT the largest volumes, but the most margin dollars per unit sale.
- I'm not troubled by the loss of ports, I keep my Mac's for several years and USB-C is definitely the future, but even if is not it provides some of today's best throughputs
- Apple's current hardware lineup is the strongest in many years. I will be upgrading my 2009 iMac this fall and my 2013 MBP 15" in the spring based on current specs now available. I purchased the 10.5" iPad and will be using that as my travel computer once iOS11 comes out.
- While I don't have the Touchbar, I have played with it in the store and I think as it matures it will be an extremely productive feature going forward. I would also like to see if rolled out to the iMac/Mac Pro keyboards
I havent found much use for the Touchbar aside from putting a forward delete button on it. The Touch ID is rather handy.
Garner could be right, but I think I'll wait for Apple's official sales figures
Oh by the way like was suggested a long time ago the ports issue has more or less resolved itself.
1.
Hardware costs are always an issue. Produce poor machines as far as a cost/benefit basis goes and you will loose sales. The sis exactly what is happening with the Mac Mini, the Mac Pro, the MBA and the iMacs. The only hardware selling well are the MBP's.
2.
Apples hardware line up is crap! No viable updates the the Mac Book Air, the Mini, the Mac Pro and questionable updates the the iMac's have left the line up in the crapper. It very much feels like Apple doesn't give a damn about the Mac.
3.
I'm actually neutral on the Touch bar. It is one of those things that will be great for some tasks and a complete failure for others. If it fits a work flow it will be well regarded by those users.
Mini Tower - count me in. The iMac is a terrible investment, I would much rather see them take the current Mac Pro configure it with an APU style chip and one decent GPU card. Sell it for $1200 - $1500 and buyers will flock to the machine. In a nut shell I have zero desire to buy a machine with a built in screen that isn't a laptop.
Honestly the Mini was going in a direction that might have made this possible in a fat Mini but they seem to have completely screwed up that platform. Imagine here a Mini type machine that has one variant with out an external GPU in the same form factor and an extend height machine with a discreet GPU.
Lots of people feel the same way, if only the Mini was a decent value right now. Frankly the machine is grossly overpriced for what you get. That might be the chips they selected from Intel or simply Apple not understanding the market the Mini sells into. I really like the idea of a modular Mini, one that is more or less a carbon copy of todays platform with modern electronics and a fat version that supports a discreet GPU.
I don't really see the iMac is a terrible investment...an iMac easily lasts 5-6yrs for an average consumer, even maybe a lower end Prosumer. By then you'd want a new display anyways so there's no reason to want a tower just so you can keep your displays. This goes back to Appex saying people can use their 20yr old displays over and over again and this just isn't the case and isn't what happens in the real world.
My next purchase will be an iPad Pro 10" (Rose Gold, of course!) With an Apple Smart Keyboard...Hmmmm, what to do?
I will obviously compare my usage and may very well end up selling my MacBook in about a year.
Prior to buying the 2017 MacBook I was using an iPad mini 2 (with a keyboard) exclusively for about 2 months. Yes, it was a bit small and yes, I had most of my business's docs and charts already setup from my 2009 MBP, but I was really enjoying iOS.
May have to go all in on iPad Pro's and iOS.