Apple’s Mac sales have been growing year-over-year and posting great numbers every quarter. In a time when PC sales are negative in terms of growth, Mac shipments are the only ones that continue to show growth.
Mac shipments continue to grow
As per a new report published by IDC, the PC market saw a decline of 15% year-over-year, whereas Mac shipments saw an increase of 40.2% year-over-year. IDC claims that the decline in PC shipments is due to the exceptionally high shipment numbers during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is difficult to match after it.
Declines continued for the traditional PC market as global shipments totaled 74.3 million units during the third quarter of 2022 (3Q22), according to preliminary results from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. Cooling demand and uneven supply have contributed to a year-over-year contraction of 15.0%. However, shipment volumes remain well above pre-pandemic levels when PC volumes were largely driven by commercial refreshes due to the looming end of support for Windows 7.
Apple seems to defy these claims though. Compared to 7 million shipments in Q3 2021, the company shipped 10 million Macs in Q3 2022. Compared to last year, Apple has also been able to expand its market share considerably, going from 8.2% in Q3 2021, to 13.5% in Q3 2022.
IDC also attributed Apple’s third-quarter Mac shipments increase to China’s lockdowns ending in Q2 2022.
“Consumer demand has remained muted though promotional activity from the likes of Apple and other players has helped soften the fall and reduce channel inventory by a couple weeks across the board,” said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC’s Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers. “Supply has also reacted to the new lows by reducing orders with Apple being the only exception as their third quarter supply increased to make up for lost orders stemming from the lockdowns in China during the second quarter.”
The report also touches upon the average selling prices (ASP), and how shortages over the previous years have pushed products towards premium prices. The past five quarters have seen ASPs at their highest levels since 2004, however, the trend has reversed since Q2 2022.
“In addition to shipment volumes, we’ll be keeping a close eye on how average selling prices (ASPs) trend this quarter,” added Linn Huang, research vice president, Devices & Displays at IDC. “Shortages over the last several years have aggressively driven product mix shifts towards the premium end. This, coupled with cost increases of components and logistics, drove ASPs up five quarters in a row to $910 in 1Q22, the highest since 2004. However, with demand slowing, promotions in full swing, and orders being cut, the ASP climb was reversed in 2Q22. Another quarter of ASP declines indicates a market in retreat.”
Apple has shipped some amazing upgrades to the Mac, starting with the M1 chip, and recently with the M2 MacBook Air, as well as the well-received M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pro models. The company has been able to meet consumer demands with regard to product features and functionalities, as well as leap-frogging over the competition with Apple Silicon, which is still unmatched today in terms of performance and efficiency in the PC world.
