Mac shipments slump as Apple finally bitten by glum PC demand

Apple's client device sales volumes stood out compared to its competitors during 2023's first quarter, but not for the reasons you might expect, IDC reports. Apple saw Q1 shipments of new Macs plummet 40.5 percent from 6.9 million units in 2022 to 4.1 million this year. PC vendors also experienced a generally dismal quarter, …

[NeilPost]

Made by Apple in California??

“However, that may not be a bad thing as US-China trade relations cause OEMs to reassess their manufacturing plans and investigate alternative locals for production. We’ve already seen several vendors poking around Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore as they look to limit their exposure to weak links in supply chains caused by geopolitical tensions and other factors. Elevated inventories and slow demand may be advantageous for PC vendors exploring potentially disruptive revisions to their procurement plans, the analyst house notes”

Not the USA then ??

Designed by Apple in California

Made by Foxconn anywhere but the USA

… doesn’t have the same ring about it.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn

Why the CHIPS Act is just a lot of vacuous manufacture/supply-chain washing.

What ever happened to Trump’s Apple USA Factory ??

[AndrewB57]

Re: Made by Apple in California??

It was scheduled to be built during Infrastructure week I believe

[NeilPost]

Re: Made by Apple in California??

https://eu.statesman.com/story/news/politics/2019/11/21/fact-check-did-trump-open-a-major-apple-manufacturing-plant-in-austin/2239478007/

It’s here, was already open and pretty much bespoke makes Mac Pro high end workstations. So more of an Apple Skunkworks for assembling expensive PC’s with foreign made components.

Pimp My Mac.

Saved from closure by Presidential Trade Tarrif dodging.

[VoiceOfTruth]

Re: Made by Apple in California??

-> Not the USA then ??

The cause of the bad relations between the USA and China: the USA cannot compete. It is too slow, too expensive (by a long way), and too inefficient. The USA's "solution": sanctions and trade barriers = keep being inefficient, slow, expensive.

[captain veg]

Re: Made by Apple in California??

Designed in California... by a Brit. (Until 2019.)

-A.

[43300]

Re: Made by Apple in California??

Well, the shiny casing was!

[martinusher]

China is also a major market

China doesn't just make computers, it uses them as well. Its a very large market for product. If that market dries up, say because of public perception that "Bling Bros LLC" is really a trading front for "Great Satan, Inc", then a good slice of market for those products evaporate.

We've seen this with Boeing. China has been one of their major markets but their booked sales in the last year has been exactly zero.

It doesn't help that traditionally strong economies like the US/Canada and Europe aren't that strong at the moment.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: China is also a major market

Why would you not just simplify/buy an expensive ticket item plane where it is made via Oriental (Hong Kong) Front Company/Oriental (Hong Kong) Front Leasing LLC, (incorporated in Delaware for tax dodging).

Saves a lot of oversight and nasty export paperwork too and need to comply with WTO rules and leaves that to the (cough) customer.

You can wash it through the Bahama’s, Virgin Islands and perhaps claim any sales tax refund too.

[VoiceOfTruth]

Re: China is also a major market

-> Boeing. China has been one of their major markets but

China is looking to replace Boeing where possible. Airbus will happily take its place. Of course, the USA will start sanctioning Airbus the moment it does this.

[NeilPost]

Re: China is also a major market

Or self made as they gain the skill sets and capability…. and airlines around the world look for better prices.

https://www.businessinsider.com/comac-c919-chinese-commercial-jet-built-rival-boeing-and-airbus-2022-2?amp

[Dan 55]

The market has spoken - Apple -40% vs others -25/30%

In the end charging a premium for ARM which might outperform x64 in certain use cases isn't a strong enough reason, especially when it's stuck in a walled garden and can't be repaired or upgraded either.

[DenTheMan]

PCs mean business

Consumers simply do jot want the hassle of a PC nor the expense of a Mac.

If Apple had sensible prices then they could dominate all factors. However Apple domination is primarily concentrated on having the highest profit levels in the industry.

[DS999]

When Apple announced the long rumored ARM Macs

A lot of intended Mac purchases were delayed so people could get those instead of buying the last x86 version. Once Apple filled out the full line (except for Mac Pro) so all the people who were waiting on ARM Macs got one it seems reasonable to assume there would be a reversion to the mean.

[PeeKay]

Pricing not the fault?

Let's be honest - prices were high before, but they're verging on the ridiculous now - to the point where nobody is likely to be able to afford to buy a Mac.

Of course, it could all be a ploy by Apple to remove the Mac altogether, except for design businesses and their ilk?

[Fenton]

Entry level is not too bad

Entry level Mac mini is a great machine for the price, however upgrades to future proof the machine are just stupid, £200 per 8 GB of Memory, £200 to go from 256GB to 512GB storage is just stupid and you can't upgrade it at a later point.

This is likely the biggest sticking point for people likely looking at the Mac. It's a pity the PC ecosystem does not have suplier with the same design flair.

[43300]

Re: Entry level is not too bad

There is no such thing as a "future proof" computer. The best that can be said is that getting one with a high spec might extend its usable life by a year or two.

[Ben Burch]

I don't see the value in them any more.

I started out in 1984 as a Mac guy and have owned like 17 Macs in that time (at one time I had a streaming farm of iMacs,) but my current iMac is failing and I am replacing it with a high end Dell machine in June.

I work with Windows 10 and Windows Server daily, and find no usability difference from OSX, and almost no software I need is without a Windows version. Equivalent Macs are several times the price, not really upgradable, not really repairable, OS revisions that gratuitously break software I already own, and even the Retina 5K screens are lesser in quality than a good 4K display because of ghosting and hot spots.

I still think the iPhone is great, and I like the iPad, but I cannot spend my money on a new Mac in good conscience. They need to cut prices significantly before I could.