Apple has never had it this good with its Mac computers, here’s why

It may be a tech behemoth now with its hands in many pies — phones, tablets, headphones, watches and so much more — but 45 years ago Apple started off as a computer company. And while it has massively diversified, it never stopped making computers. The Mac range has seen it share of its ups and downs over the years but has never had it this good. At least that’s what Apple revealed during its quarterly earnings call.
Apple CFO Luca Maestri, said during the earnings call that the company hit “an all-time revenue record for Mac”. In Q4 2022, Apple garnered the most revenue it has ever from Mac computers. If that wasn’t enough a testament how well Mac is doing for Apple, then the company also revealed that the installed base of Mac had hit an all-time high.

Apple cracked the code

Maestri, during the call, said that there were three key items that helped drive the Mac’s record-breaking revenue. Firstly, the launch of new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro — both powered by the new M2 chip. Ever since Apple launched its own silicon chipset, the MacBooks have attained a different level. “Our Mac customers have already been raving about the power of M2 since the arrival of our newest MacBook Air and MacBook Pro this summer,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook during the call.
Secondly, there have been huge supply chain issues that have bogged down the laptop/PC market. Maestri believes that Apple was able to “to satisfy pent-up demand that carried forward from the significant supply constraints we faced during the June quarter.” And thirdly, as Apple improved its supply position, Maestri said the company was able to fill the channel — in other words met the demand from the market.

A lot of people seem to be buying the Mac

It’s hardly a secret that the overall PC market has been in decline. Microsoft said that the revenue from Windows suffered as the market has been declining. Global PC shipments fell 15.5% year-over-year in Q3,2022 reaching 71.1 million units, as per the latest report by Counterpoint Research. Bigwigs like Lenovo, HP, Dell all reported year-on-year decline in shipments in Q3, 2022. Except Apple. As per Counterpoint Research, Apple’s shipments grew 7% year-over-year — bucking the overall market sentiment. Like Apple, Counterpoint too believes the M2 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro were the reason behind this growth.
A Mac computer used to be an out of reach product for many — great machine but too expensive. Apple hasn’t reduced the price of the Mac by any standards but since the M-series of processors landed, there seems to be a sway towards the MacBook. Maestri revealed that a big reason why Mac reached its all-time high of installed base is because of upgraders and new customers. “We set a quarterly record for upgraders, while nearly half of customers buying Macs during the quarter were new to the device,” he said during the call.

The next quarter may not be so good

While the going has been really good for Mac, Maestri had a word of warning during the earnings call. While providing guidance on December quarter earnings, Maestri said that the company expects Mac sales to go down year-over-year next quarter. “We have a very challenging compare against last year, which had the benefit of the launch and associated channel fill of our newly redesigned MacBook Pro with M1. Therefore, we expect Mac revenue to decline substantially year over year during the December quarter,” he said.