New research of Notebook PC demand by Strategy Analytics reveals that Apple’s MacBook business grew 10% Y-o-Y with 6.5 million shipments, setting an all-time record quarter in Q3 2021. Earlier, the research firm estimated that Apple would lead the Arm-based notebook PC processor market in 2021 because of the M1 chip with an 8% market share, worth $949 million in 2021.
By Q3 2021, Apple had launched two new notebooks powered by its custom silicon: 13-inch M1 MacBook Air and 13-inch M1 MacBook Pro models. M1 chip delivers a completely new experience with faster performance and incredible battery life which made new MacBook models successful with the consumers.
Previously, Counterpoint’s study on global PC shipments revealed that Apple’s PC shipments grew by 11% Y-o-Y due to M1 Macs in the third quarter of 2021.
Dell’s market grew by 50% but Apple is gradually growing thanks to the M1 MacBook lineup
The notebook market segment itself saw 8% growth for the same quarter the previous year because of commercial demand and high consumer spending on premium products like MacBook Air and gaming notebooks, despite components shortage and supply constraints. Chirag Upadhyay, Industry Analyst said;
“The commercial customers’ upgrade kicked in as some employees returned to in-person work with the target to improve productivity. Education demand (including consumer) was better in the developed market as back to university discounts gave consumers good reason to upgrade now rather than later. It’s worth noting that the shortage of components and rising prices for manufacturing and freight costs also delayed some orders for many vendors. In other words, shipments could have been even higher.”
Even with the highest 15.3 million shipments, Lenovo only grew by 5% in Q3, 2021 while Dell led Notebook PC Y-o-Y growth at 50% with 12.2 million shipments. And Apple saw 10% Y-o-Y growth with 6.5 million shipments.
In October 2021, Apple launched two pro notebook models powered by advanced Apple Silicon: 14-inch MacBook Pro and 16-inch MacBook with M1 Pro and M1 Max chips. So far, the pro notebooks have received promising reviews and are praised for their incredible performance and battery life even better than the M1 chip. This means that the transition from Intel processors to Apple Silicon was the boost Mac lineup needed to capture decent market share.
