Despite a slow global market, Apple’s notebook sales experienced year-over-year growth last quarter, according to a new report that reveals the new MacBook Pro provided the company with a considerable bump in sales.
Notebook shipments were up 6.1% worldwide for the first quarter of 2017 with total shipments hitting 37.81 million units. That’s great news for manufacturers, but TrendForces’ latest findings show that a cool down period could be on the way.
Major PC makers HP, Lenovo, Dell and Asus all saw their market share decline from Q4 2016. Apple’s did too, but their decline was only about 15.8%, allowing the company to hold onto the number five spot and gain a little ground on the competition.
“North America had a substantial wave replacement demand from government agencies in last year’s fourth quarter,” said TrendForce notebook analyst, Anita Wang. “Without similar demand contribution, the global notebook market will be a bit cooler during this year’s second half. TrendForce projects that the 2017 global shipments will fall by 2~4% compared with preceding year’s shipments.”
TrendForce estimates that Apple shipped 3.4 million MacBook units during the first quarter of 2017. The new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar contributed significantly, giving Apple a 15.4% sales bump compared to the year-over-year quarter.
MacBook sales are expected to increase during the next quarter as well. The report predicts 10% growth for the MacBook line, aided by a new 12-inch MacBook and MacBook Pro that could debut at WWDC next month. Promotional pricing on older MacBook models could also come into effect.
