Apple dropped to 5th place, but probably for the right reason

Apple dropped from fourth to fifth place in the global PC market in the second quarter of this year, according to new market intelligence data.

The entire market has fallen significantly, but Apple has been hit especially hard – though probably for the right reason…

IDC said that while global PC shipments fell 15.3% year-on-year, Mac sales fell a more significant 22.5% between the second quarter of 2021 and the same quarter this year.

A common problem, according to the company, was a mismatch between supply and demand.

Global traditional PC shipments declined 15.3% year-on-year to 71.3 million units in the second quarter of 2022 (2Q22), according to preliminary Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker results from the International Data Corporation (IDC). This is the second quarter in a row with declining shipments after two years of growth. The decline turned out to be worse than expected as supplies and logistics worsened further due to the lockdown in China and ongoing macroeconomic headwinds.

“Recession fears continue to mount and dampen demand across all segments,” said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for mobile device trackers at IDC. “Consumer demand for PCs has declined in the short term and is in danger of disappearing in the long term as consumers become more careful about their spending and get used to computing again on different types of devices such as phones and tablets. Meanwhile, commercial demand has been more resilient, although it has also declined as businesses delayed purchases.”

However, all these things are relative. The pandemic has boosted demand for PCs as people have been working from home, so the bar has been very high in comparison.

Despite the recent decline and weaker demand, total PC volume is still comparable to the beginning of the pandemic, when volumes reached 74.3 million in Q2 2020, and the market is still well above pre-pandemic levels as volumes in Q2 2020 hit 74.3 million. In 2018 and 2019, 62.1 million and 65.1 million units were sold, respectively.

Apple’s premium pricing may be one reason the company will be hit harder at a time when consumers are more careful with their money, but it also seems likely that Q2 demand will be overwhelmed by customers waiting for the MacBook Air M2 to go on sale. .

Apple announced the new machine in early June, with almost a full month of the quarter left, but it didn’t go on sale until July 8 of the next quarter.

The Cupertino-based company has certainly given people plenty of reason to wait. First, a completely new design with thinner bezels and two new colors.

Completely reimagined around the M2, MacBook Air has a new design that’s surprisingly thin from all angles. Featuring a rugged all-aluminum unibody that feels incredibly strong and durable, it’s only 11.3 millimeters thick, weighs just 2.7 pounds, and delivers an amazing 20 percent volume reduction over the previous generation. And thanks to the energy efficiency of the M2, all the features of the MacBook Air are realized in a silent, fanless design. In addition to Silver and Space Gray, MacBook Air is now available in two stunning new colors: Midnight and Starlight.

Second, the combination of a claimed 18-hour battery life (probably equal to real-life all-day battery life) and performance never seen before in entry-level Apple laptops.

With the M2, intensive workloads like editing complex timelines in Final Cut Pro are up to 40 percent faster than the previous generation, and up to 15 times faster for customers who haven’t upgraded to Apple Silicon.

Although IDC did not comment on this factor, it expects Mac sales to recover in the current quarter, but does not make such forecasts for the global PC market as a whole.

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