The last seven Mac quarters have now been the top seven quarters ever in the history of the Mac-- and 50% of Mac purchases were first timers

[Obioban]

Summary

Mac sales have been significantly increasing since Apple Silicon started shipping. 

 

Quotes

Quote

The last seven Mac quarters have now been the top seven quarters ever in the history of the Mac-- 50% of Customers Purchasing a Mac in Q2 2022 Were New Mac Users

 

My thoughts

I thought this was interesting because it really shows that normal people are grokking, to some degree, the benefits of Apple Silicon. It would also be interesting to see what it would mean for the PC market if a semi significant share of it was Macs with Apple Silicon-- as every AS computer has a decent enough GPU for, say, 1080p gaming, if software was actually optimized for it (written in Metal). Even if they only got to, say, 20%, that might give them closer to 50% of the home computer market (computers that could potentially be used for gaming).

 

Sources

https://www.macrumors.com/2022/04/28/apple-2q-2022-earnings/

https://www.macrumors.com/2022/04/28/mac-users-q2-2022-new-to-mac/

[Kisai]

It will be interesting if it brings Mac share up to a level of say Nintendo's share of the console market.

https://www.ampereanalysis.com/insight/console-market-reaches-new-heights-with-growth-to-60-billion

 

So Windows has 88% and MacOS has 9% based on informal data (eg web browser user agent) So really if Apple gains about 16% (eg nearly triples it's existing userbase) in the laptop/desktop share, then game devs will need to seriously consider porting games to it.

 

 

[Rauten]

Makes sense.

Unless you're married to X86/64 for whatever reason, the M1 Macs are very nice products at not-unreasonable price points at the lower end.

[Dominik W]

1 minute ago, Kisai said:

So really if Apple gains about 16% (eg nearly triples it's existing userbase) in the laptop/desktop share, then game devs will need to seriously consider porting games to it.

If that happens I will seriously look towards getting a Mac. Despite the hate the Apple Ecosystem gets, it is a well oiled machine, and it's really attractive to me. But that doesn't cancel out the fact they don't have a wide enough selection of apps like Windows (the downside of the ecosystem).

 

Windows getting phone integration with Samsung Androids is quite attractive though...

 

I'm curious how this all plays out.

[Obioban]

17 minutes ago, Kisai said:

It will be interesting if it brings Mac share up to a level of say Nintendo's share of the console market.

https://www.ampereanalysis.com/insight/console-market-reaches-new-heights-with-growth-to-60-billion

 

So Windows has 88% and MacOS has 9% based on informal data (eg web browser user agent) So really if Apple gains about 16% (eg nearly triples it's existing userbase) in the laptop/desktop share, then game devs will need to seriously consider porting games to it.

 

 

I think it's probably less gain needed than that-- most PCs sold are sub $500 models that really can't play a game to save their life. Old article, but I can't find newer data-- Apple's market share of PCs over $1000 in 2008 was 66%: 

https://fortune.com/2008/05/19/report-apples-market-share-of-pcs-over-1000-hits-66/ 

My don't see any reason to think that percent on the higher end has significantly shifted. 

 

Plus, I'd guess a significant portion of the higher end PCs sold are being sold to offices-- where games also aren't being played as much. 

[Obioban]

Found newer data (2009): 

https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-has-91-share-of-premium-computer-market-research-firm-says-2009-7

 

Quote

Apple (AAPL) has a 91% share of the $1,000-plus computer market,  Betanews reports, citing market research firm NPD.

 

[RejZoR]

This is to be expected really. Apple really stepped up the Mac game and their shift to ARM really went in the right direction. None of Intel based Macs ever had such massive effect, because they were mostly very "meh" devices. There was just nothing exciting about them. M1 really changed that dramatically.

[GhostRoadieBL]

32 minutes ago, Obioban said:

Found newer data (2009): 

https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-has-91-share-of-premium-computer-market-research-firm-says-2009-7

 

 

This one is a little misleading because they jump back and forth from dollars spent to market share.

 

Also THAT LINK IS 13 YEARS OLD!

Q2 - 2021 https://macdailynews.com/2021/07/13/apple-mac-takes-16-1-u-s-market-share-in-q221-gartner/

 

Quote

“The global semiconductor shortage and subsequent component supply constraints have extended lead time for some enterprise mobile PC models to as long as 120 days,” said Mikako Kitagawa, research director at Gartner.

 

“This has led to prices increasing in the bill of materials, which vendors have passed on to end users. Moving forward, rising prices could continue to slow PC demand through the next 6 to 12 months.”

 

[PeachGr]

Microsoft will fix that by adding advertisement on file explorer XD

[leadeater]

2 hours ago, Obioban said:

Found newer data (2009): 

https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-has-91-share-of-premium-computer-market-research-firm-says-2009-7

 

 

Ahh.. that is EXTREMELY dubious, no matter how old.

[Obioban]

23 minutes ago, leadeater said:

Ahh.. that is EXTREMELY dubious, no matter how old.

 

well, not far off the previous year.

 

... I can't find anything more recent.

 

2 hours ago, GhostRoadieBL said:

This one is a little misleading because they jump back and forth from dollars spent to market share.

 

Also THAT LINK IS 13 YEARS OLD!

Q2 - 2021 https://macdailynews.com/2021/07/13/apple-mac-takes-16-1-u-s-market-share-in-q221-gartner/

 

 

Yeah, went with the 13 year old data because it was the newest I could find. 

[GhostRoadieBL]

2 minutes ago, Obioban said:

went with the 13 year old data because it was the newest I could find. 

Typically these kinds of reports (specifically granular/highly segmented) will be done for investment groups and locked behind pay walls due to the extra labour and value to those kinds of investors looking at companies.

Grand View Research has a sample but it locks the meat of the data behind a paid report

https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/laptop-market

 

[RedRound2]

Quite Expected. The general population largely seems to be actually be aware about Apple Silicon chips due to the strides it has made in the industry. 

 

If Apple actually makes a good 12" and 15" MacBook Air, their sales would be off the charts, as there's a significant demand for smaller as well as larger MacBook Air esq mac

[pythonmegapixel]

Well, that's what happens when

 

(a) you make a huge leap in technology

(b) the competition goes backwards by adding awful software features that nobody asked for

 

Well done Apple.

[Obioban]

35 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

Well, that's what happens when

 

(a) you make a huge leap in technology

(b) the competition goes backwards by adding awful software features that nobody asked for

 

Well done Apple.

Apple's prices have also stayed relatively flat, while everyone else's seems to be going up-- so less of a premium these days to go Mac.

[Lord Bloobus]

5 hours ago, Dominik W said:

If that happens I will seriously look towards getting a Mac. Despite the hate the Apple Ecosystem gets, it is a well oiled machine, and it's really attractive to me. But that doesn't cancel out the fact they don't have a wide enough selection of apps like Windows (the downside of the ecosystem).

 

Windows getting phone integration with Samsung Androids is quite attractive though...

 

I'm curious how this all plays out.

They have to actually put fans in their devices first.

[Lord Bloobus]

Increasing significantly compared to it's own sales.

They don't have a low enough tier, I can go buy 3 bare spec dell laptops that work great or 5 or 6 chromebooks for 1 macbook air. Until they're putting a much larger dent in enterprise purchasing they'll just be 2nd fiddle to everything else.

Also they are on a smaller node than everyone else right now and still are beaten by cheaper solutions in all but a few applications.

[BondiBlue]

16 minutes ago, Lord Bloobus said:

They have to actually put fans in their devices first.

Are you talking about Apple computers? They only sell one computer without a fan, and that's the lowest end laptop they offer. All of their other laptops and desktops have at least one fan, and thermals have been very strong for most Apple Silicon machines. 

[RedRound2]

1 minute ago, Lord Bloobus said:

They don't have a low enough tier, I can go buy 3 bare spec dell laptops that work great or 5 or 6 chromebooks for 1 macbook air. Until they're putting a much larger dent in enterprise purchasing they'll just be 2nd fiddle to everything else.

Also they are on a smaller node than everyone else right now and still are beaten by cheaper solutions in all but a few applications.

A laptop quality is not only measure by its performance. It also includes battery life, screen, trackpad, build quality and support. All of which wouldn't be feasible for Apple to take care of if they sold a Macbook at 150 USD. And that's why Apple has always maintained their stance on why they dont want to enter the ultra budget market and rather would only price any of their products in that category after achieving massive economies of scale (like the iPhone 8 body)

 

Also we have already been through this a billion times on this forum about how one node smaller than rest of industry cannot account for most of the performance gains from Apple Silicon chips. Its been proven and pointed out again and again, yet people still cling to it. And can you please tell me about a computer thats equivalent to MacBook Air and Mac mini that beat it (dont bring up gaming or some nonsense like that)

[Lord Bloobus]

36 minutes ago, RedRound2 said:

A laptop quality is not only measure by its performance. It also includes battery life, screen, trackpad, build quality and support. All of which wouldn't be feasible for Apple to take care of if they sold a Macbook at 150 USD. And that's why Apple has always maintained their stance on why they dont want to enter the ultra budget market and rather would only price any of their products in that category after achieving massive economies of scale (like the iPhone 8 body)

 

Also we have already been through this a billion times on this forum about how one node smaller than rest of industry cannot account for most of the performance gains from Apple Silicon chips. Its been proven and pointed out again and again, yet people still cling to it. And can you please tell me about a computer thats equivalent to MacBook Air and Mac mini that beat it (dont bring up gaming or some nonsense like that)

Wrong.

Cost and ease of use are king unless you have a specific need. Check my sig, we only have Macs deployed for creative works and everyone else has a dell. M1's have been plaguing us with issues related to thunderbolt displays and having to show people how to use them, and the macbook air prior to M1 was sluggish compared to new dell laptops.

And it does make a difference, they got total board control down to the nanometer and then used the most cutting edge designs they could. It's still only faster in basic use and specific applications to standard hardware that's 2 years old at this point.

EDIT: Also for the record, I want one for work/home but they don't mesh with my use cases so I bought a gaming laptop that covers all my bases. They're light and sip power, but lack SCCM/AD compatibility and we use a Windows based deployment environment and I need parity for that and troubleshooting. I have a Macbook Air from work that I use exclusively for Mac related issues and Configurator. If I'm not doing that it lives in my desk untouched.

[Lord Bloobus]

25 minutes ago, BondiBlue said:

Are you talking about Apple computers? They only sell one computer without a fan, and that's the lowest end laptop they offer. All of their other laptops and desktops have at least one fan, and thermals have been very strong for most Apple Silicon machines. 

It was a joke, but their most attainable entry level device will get bogged by thermal load. I also don't see Mac changing to support balls to the wall gaming performance, which means substandard experiences compared to any alternates barring game streaming.

[BondiBlue]

2 minutes ago, Lord Bloobus said:

It was a joke, but their most attainable entry level device will get bogged by thermal load. I also don't see Mac changing to support balls to the wall gaming performance, which means substandard experiences compared to any alternates barring game streaming.

Yes, the M1 Air can struggle during very heavy loads, that won't be a problem for most people because most people won't buy the cheapest option if they need the performance. The 13" M1 MBP has active cooling, so people who would have a need for sustained full load operation have a better option. I actually own a 13" M1 MBP, and it can handle more tasks at once than my previous 2017 13" MBP, and that's while the fan remains off. The 2017 MBP couldn't even play a 4K YouTube video without the fan ramping up a bit, and trying to juggle multiple browser windows was an easy way to heat it up even more. The M1 will play an 8K YouTube video while going between other browser windows just fine. 

 

I see your point, but there are better options for those people who need to run their computer under full load for an extended period of time. As for gaming though, I honestly have no clue what to think about that. It certainly would be nice for more games to be supported, but I don't play enough games to really care all that much. I ran Minecraft on my M1 MBP as a benchmark, and it runs better with most of the settings cranked up than my main desktop does at lower settings. That's about the extent of my gaming on a Mac. The only other game I actively play is Forza Horizon 4, and I just stream it from one of my desktops through Parsec. 

[Lord Bloobus]

2 minutes ago, BondiBlue said:

Yes, the M1 Air can struggle during very heavy loads, that won't be a problem for most people because most people won't buy the cheapest option if they need the performance. The 13" M1 MBP has active cooling, so people who would have a need for sustained full load operation have a better option. I actually own a 13" M1 MBP, and it can handle more tasks at once than my previous 2017 13" MBP, and that's while the fan remains off. The 2017 MBP couldn't even play a 4K YouTube video without the fan ramping up a bit, and trying to juggle multiple browser windows was an easy way to heat it up even more. The M1 will play an 8K YouTube video while going between other browser windows just fine. 

 

I see your point, but there are better options for those people who need to run their computer under full load for an extended period of time. As for gaming though, I honestly have no clue what to think about that. It certainly would be nice for more games to be supported, but I don't play enough games to really care all that much. I ran Minecraft on my M1 MBP as a benchmark, and it runs better with most of the settings cranked up than my main desktop does at lower settings. That's about the extent of my gaming on a Mac. The only other game I actively play is Forza Horizon 4, and I just stream it from one of my desktops through Parsec. 

I want better mac support for gaming, but it's just not there and nobody wants to develop for it. Apple also doesn't care about gaming.

[Obioban]

26 minutes ago, Lord Bloobus said:

It was a joke, but their most attainable entry level device will get bogged by thermal load. I also don't see Mac changing to support balls to the wall gaming performance, which means substandard experiences compared to any alternates barring game streaming.

The (perhaps ironically named) MacBook Air, the only computer they sell without a fan, runs at full load for 8 minutes before it thermally throttles. Most people, for most use cases, don't have 100% loads for that long. For anyone who does, it's $300 more for a 13" MacBook Pro, with fan. 

 

Gaming performance will come if developers choose to code use Metal... which they will if Apple has enough marketshare to make it appealing to do so. If that happens remains to be seen, but, for the last 7 quarters, things have been progressing that way. The hardware is there, on all the M1 computers-- which is what makes this interesting/why I think it might become a thing. With ALL Macs, at every price point, coming with a good enough GPU for 1080p gaming, the pool of Mac that could be used for gaming machines, if the software was there, is larger than the straight marketshare numbers show. 

[Lord Bloobus]

1 minute ago, Obioban said:

The (perhaps ironically named) MacBook Air, the only computer they sell without a fan, runs at full load for 8 minutes before it thermally throttles. Most people, for most use cases, don't have 100% loads for that long. 

 

Gaming performance will come if developers choose to code use Metal... which they will if Apple has enough marketshare to make it appealing to do so. If that happens remains to be seen, but, for the last 7 quarters, things have been progressing that way. 

Heat was in reference to gaming, most people don't do long production work or processing on their machines period.