Apple's Mac shipments fell by over 40% in Q1 2023, marking the most significant drop compared to its major rivals in the personal computer market.
Recent data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) suggests that there has been a noticeable decrease in the number of people buying Apple computers. In the first quarter of 2023, Apple experienced a significant drop in Mac shipments compared to the same period in the previous year, which can be attributed to the declining demand for PCs following the COVID-era peak.
In the last quarter, the tech giant shipped 4.1 million laptops and desktops, representing a significant 40.5% decline from the 6.9 million units shipped in the same period last year. This drop in shipments also marks the worst decline for the company since the final quarter of 2000.
It is worth mentioning that other prominent PC manufacturers also experienced declines in their shipments, albeit to a lesser extent. All PC makers' combined shipments dropped by 29% to 56.9 million units, falling below the early 2019 levels.
Lenovo and Dell saw their shipments fall by more than 30% and HP experienced a decline of 24.2%. ASUSTek also suffered from declining demand, with a 30.3% fall, completing the list of the top 5 brands affected by the trend.
IDC's report highlights a shift from the previous year when there was a spike in demand for personal computers due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unlike the supply chain disruptions that troubled electronic manufacturers two years ago, the decline in demand was not caused by such issues. In fact, there was an oversupply of inventory.
According to Jitesh Ubrani, a research manager at IDC, despite offering "heavy discounting" and sale prices, PC manufacturers are likely to face a surplus of inventory that could "persist into the middle of the year and potentially into the third quarter."
As per the report, Linn Huang, a research vice president at IDC, forecasted that the demand in 2024 would be linked to the overall state of the economy. He added that if the economy is on an upward trend, then there could be a "significant market upside as consumers look to refresh, schools seek to replace worn down Chromebooks, and businesses move to Windows 11."
You can find IDC's report here. Also, don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.