Mac shipments plummet 40%

Looks like the work-from-home sales boom is over.

Author

Leander Kahney
April 10, 2023

Mac shipments fell a staggering 40% in the first quarter (compared to the year before) as the pandemic-fueled WFH boom draws to a close, according to IDC.

Overall, the PC industry saw a 30% decline in shipments, but Apple suffered the most. IDC laid the blame on a slowdown in spending, weak demand and excess inventory.

The report spells doom and gloom for the entire PC industry, which has been in slow decline for multiple quarters. But Apple’s numbers look particularly bad, partly because of the comparison to the first quarter in 2022, when Apple was selling boatloads of M1 Macs.

Apple launched updated M2 versions of the MacBook Pro and Mac mini earlier this year, but they don’t seem to have moved the needle.

Let’s hope Apple’s awful numbers improve in the latter half of the year.

Also in today’s newsletter:

— Leander Kahney, EIC.

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Tweetz o’ the day

One more thing ...

❝

My philosophy is that everything starts with a great product. So, you know, I obviously believed in listening to customers, but customers can't tell you about the next breakthrough that's going to happen next year that's going to change the whole industry. So you have to listen very carefully. But then you have to go and sort of stow away -- you have to go hide away with people that really understand the technology, but also really care about the customers, and dream up this next breakthrough. And that's my perspective, that everything starts with a great product. And that has its flaws. I have certainly been accused of not listening to the customers enough. And I think there is probably a certain amount of that that's valid.

— Steve Jobs, 1985.

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