Apple notebook shipments grew 94% year-over-year in Q1 2021

AppleInsider · May 13, 2021 8:01PM

Apple shipped an estimated 5.7 million Mac notebooks in the first calendar quarter of 2021, coming in fourth among laptop makers during the period.

Credit: Andrew O'Hara, AppleInsider

According to the latest Strategy Analytics data, Apple's notebook shipments are up 94% year-over-year. The firm says that Apple shipped 2.9 million notebooks in Q1 2020.

The Cupertino tech giant had an 8.4% share of the notebook market in Q1 2021, up from 7.8% in the year-ago quarter. Apple came in fourth among notebook makers. Lenovo came in first place with 23.9% of the market, HP came in second with 22.6%, and Dell came in third with 14.6%.

Broken down by operating system, Apple's macOS had an 8.4% share of the market in the first quarter. That's compared to 73% for Windows and 17.7% for Google's Chromebook OS.

Shipments across the PC industry have skyrocketed during the pandemic. Total notebook shipments were up 81% across all major vendors. Strategy Analytics attributes the growth to a work-from-home and remote education environment, as well as the likelihood that businesses will retain a hybrid model as pandemic restrictions ease.

Apple's notebook lineup includes the 16-inch MacBook Pro, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air models. In 2020, Apple refreshed the 13-inch MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air with its own M1 system-on-chip. Apple is also expected to bring an Apple Silicon chip to the 16-inch variant in 2021, too.

Strategy Analytics' data is based on market estimates that it generates through its own metrics. Apple no longer reports individual unit shipments in its earnings reports.

Apple did report that Mac revenue growth grew 70.1% year-over-year to $9.1 billion in its second quarter, which coincides with the first calendar quarter of the year.

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tht · May 13, 2021 8:29PM

This type of YoY growth is likely a 2 quarter thing. Q2 2020 was not a good quarter, as east Asia was in lockdown during Q1 2020. Not a lot of product got sold. early last year.

Beats · May 13, 2021 8:58PM

I don’t doubt it. Everyone’s talking about M1.

8% global share is too little. I wanna see Apple take 15-20%.

lkrupp · May 13, 2021 9:46PM

What the hell is an Apple notebook? I thought Apple made laptops. When I hear the word ‘notebook’ I think of those ultra cheap pieces of crap that were going to take over the world and put Apple out of business. You know, like the Chromebook.

blastdoor · May 13, 2021 10:05PM

Beats said:

I don’t doubt it. Everyone’s talking about M1.

8% global share is too little. I wanna see Apple take 15-20%.

That would mean Mac marketshare being about the same as iPhone, which I think is an appropriate goal for Apple.

Interestingly, matching iPhone market share would mean the Mac gets ~50% share of the US market.

I think the number one obstacle to achieving that goal is the state of gaming on the Mac. Now that Apple has total control of their hardware+software stack, they are fully capable of surmounting that obstacle. I hope they do it.

There are other obstacles, too, but I think those other obstacles melt away as marketshare increases. Gaming requires more focus from Apple. We see hints of that focus, but they aren't there yet.

blastdoor · May 13, 2021 10:08PM

lkrupp said:

What the hell is an Apple notebook? I thought Apple made laptops. When I hear the word ‘notebook’ I think of those ultra cheap pieces of crap that were going to take over the world and put Apple out of business. You know, like the Chromebook.

lkrupp · May 14, 2021 12:13PM

blastdoor said:

lkrupp said:

What the hell is an Apple notebook? I thought Apple made laptops. When I hear the word ‘notebook’ I think of those ultra cheap pieces of crap that were going to take over the world and put Apple out of business. You know, like the Chromebook.

Well, you got that right. I confused notebook with netbook. Now I feel like Rosanne Roseannadanna.

MacPro · May 14, 2021 12:23PM

blastdoor said:

Beats said:

I don’t doubt it. Everyone’s talking about M1.

8% global share is too little. I wanna see Apple take 15-20%.
That would mean Mac marketshare being about the same as iPhone, which I think is an appropriate goal for Apple.

Interestingly, matching iPhone market share would mean the Mac gets ~50% share of the US market.

I think the number one obstacle to achieving that goal is the state of gaming on the Mac. Now that Apple has total control of their hardware+software stack, they are fully capable of surmounting that obstacle. I hope they do it.

There are other obstacles, too, but I think those other obstacles melt away as marketshare increases. Gaming requires more focus from Apple. We see hints of that focus, but they aren't there yet.

I totally agree on gaming. Not to compete with Steam, rather working with them. And all get the makers of the top-tier game over onto Apple Silicon too.

thedba · May 14, 2021 6:50PM

MacPro said:

blastdoor said:

Beats said:

I don’t doubt it. Everyone’s talking about M1.

8% global share is too little. I wanna see Apple take 15-20%.
That would mean Mac marketshare being about the same as iPhone, which I think is an appropriate goal for Apple.

Interestingly, matching iPhone market share would mean the Mac gets ~50% share of the US market.

I think the number one obstacle to achieving that goal is the state of gaming on the Mac. Now that Apple has total control of their hardware+software stack, they are fully capable of surmounting that obstacle. I hope they do it.

There are other obstacles, too, but I think those other obstacles melt away as marketshare increases. Gaming requires more focus from Apple. We see hints of that focus, but they aren't there yet.

I totally agree on gaming. Not to compete with Steam, rather working with them. And all get the makers of the top-tier game over onto Apple Silicon too.

I'm not much of a gamer but doesn't Apple have a service competing with Steam, Apple Arcade?
Or is that more like AppleTV+ being on the same platform as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video etc?

AI_lias · May 14, 2021 10:49PM

lkrupp said:

What the hell is an Apple notebook? I thought Apple made laptops. When I hear the word ‘notebook’ I think of those ultra cheap pieces of crap that were going to take over the world and put Apple out of business. You know, like the Chromebook.

You might be thinking of netbooks.

GeorgeBMac · May 15, 2021 11:18AM

tht said:

This type of YoY growth is likely a 2 quarter thing. Q2 2020 was not a good quarter, as east Asia was in lockdown during Q1 2020. Not a lot of product got sold. early last year.

Very true....

And it extends to more than just computer equipment: Many things took a dive in the first and second quarters last year and comparing only to them without context is poor analysis.

It's a bit like comparing a normal economy to one in deep recession and calling it a "booming economy".

The food industry pulls similar tricks: In an effort to make their junk food look healthy they'll conduct a "study" where they compare it to Oreo cookies and claim that proves its healthy. It isn't. It's simply healthier than an Oreo cookie.

Apple notebook shipments grew 94% year-over-year in Q1 2021

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