“With so much time elapsing since the last appearance of an influx of new Macs, questions have arisen about Apple’s commitment to the platform. It’s made worse by published reports of an up to 13% dip on Mac sales in the September quarter,” Gene Steinberg writes for The Tech Night Owl. “Compare that to the report that some PC makers actually reported slight increases for the same period.”
“I grant that a lot of my readers pay attention when new Macs arrive from Apple,” Steinberg writes. “They receive regular coverage across the world, even when the news is announced via a press release rather than a media event of some sort. But I also suspect most people who want to buy a new computer don’t wait for the new model to arrive, unless it appears imminent. Otherwise sales would be stacked in a short period across the year, and that’s not what is happening.”
“Still, there are question marks about how much Apple is willing to invest in the Mac platform,” Steinberg writes. “Other than the MacBook, which was refreshed earlier this year, there have only been rumors about one model, amounting to a major MacBook Pro revision. Supposedly it’ll be thinner and lighter, sporting a context-sensitive OLED strip that replaces the function keys… There is that recent email reportedly from Tim Cook, not officially confirmed, in which new Macs were promised. For the sake of argument, I’ll accept that the message as real, since Apple hasn’t denied it. And it does make sense that new Macs would arrive this month.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: That damnable little birdie keeps telling us “Soon.”
SEE ALSO:
Where is Apple’s ‘October Surprise?’ – October 14, 2016
Apple’s disgracefully outdated, utterly mismanaged Mac lineup is killing sales – October 13, 2016
For some reason, Apple’s Mac sales plunged last quarter – October 12, 2016
As new MacBook Pro models loom, Apple issues fourth beta of macOS Sierra 10.12.1 – October 11, 2016
Thoughts on Apple’s MacBook Pro OLED touch strip – August 11, 2016
Apple preps all-new MacBook Pro line with OLED touch strip and more – August 10, 2016
Apple’s new MacBook Pro expected to feature OLED touch-panel, Touch ID power button – August 8, 2016
Sales suffer as Apple neglects the Mac – July 12, 2016
Apple’s Mac sales fall, economies shudder – July 12, 2016
IDC, Gartner: Apple’s Mac no longer bucking PC industry’s sales slide – July 12, 2016
Next-gen MacBook Pro could feature Touch ID power button – June 28, 2016
Leaked photos pretty much confirm 2016 MacBook Pro’s OLED touchpad – June 1, 2016
Thinner, lighter 2016 MacBook Pro may feature OLED display touch bar and Touch ID – May 24, 2016
“renting” people disposable electronic devices = big profit
“selling” people computers = little profit
focus and attention goes to big profit
Very Ballmeresque of you.
Bravo
and maybe very balmeresque of apple.
it has become quite evident for some time now that the beancounters are ascendent
Damn little birdie is crying “wolf” over/over/over.
“Selling people computers with ancient technology at latest prices” big profits. Terrible customer experience and taking advantage of your loyal base
So very true. Especially Mac Pros. They were last updated late 2013, 34 months actually.
In the fast-paced world of tech, using Moore’s law a “generation” of technology is roughly 18 months. The current Mac Pro is therefore already over 2 generations old, yet Apple’s still charging full price as if it was released yesterday!
If Apple stops focusing on Mac Pros because they think declining sales indicates a “lack of interest” from pro customers, rather than a “your latest pro offering never met our needs, and you’re overcharging for 3-year old technology” reaction, that means the beancounters will have taken over and critical thinking skills are no longer being applied to business decisions affecting the Mac line.
NO POWERFUL MACHINES BEYOND A LAPTOP MADE BY APPLE TO CODE AN OS OR OTHER APPS ON, EQUALS GIVING MICROSOFT AND GOOGLE CONTROL!!!!
Oh yes, ‘stay tuned’, “stay tuned” and by the time they are released they will still be behind. Sorry for this attitude but Tim’s management in this area has been non existent. And this area would seem to be a no brainer. Apple certainly has the resources that a thing like this should never have happened.
“Oh yes, ‘stay tuned’, “stay tuned” and by the time they are released they will still be behind”
Behind what?
Behind the next Star Trek.
Behind HP and Dell in terms of technology.
HP and Dell are kicking Apple’s butt in terms of delivering latest technology with highest performance in PCs. What is wrong with Tim Cook?
Tim Cook is more interested in fashion and gadgets for girls and boys and is ignoring the Mac Pros out there.
How such a rich company cannot do it all baffles common sense.
Maybe Tim LIKES being behind…..
(and another for saying ‘rimshot’!!)
wow, that text didn’t come out right at all
Because you’re not right. Crap in, crap out. Homophobic locker room talk? Proud of your little joke?
No such thing as ‘homophobic’.
It’s just a joke. Get off your high horse.
We’re all hoping that Tim can come from behind with a new release of Macs.
MDN, yeah they have been telling you that for a year now. You keep telling the padawans to be patient. Yetmthe new Mac’s never come. I don’t think you know any more than anyone else.
“soon”. Announce just before Halloween. Will go on sale by mid November. And ship late December/Jan. Nice job Apple. Steve Jobs would have never let the MAC rot on the vine like this Another reason the company doesn’t have a 1T valuation. Run by accountants not visionaries. Microsoft 2.0.
So are you blaming Steve cause he told Tim not to ask yourself what would Steve do. so they took his advice and instead they do the opposite. So sad to see a great platform left to rot on the tree.
The term is ‘die on the vine’ you dolts. Not rot on the tree.
O_o
Methinks Apple tree is a more appropriate metaphor than grape vine. Both work in conversation. Don’t be so picky.
Maybe new stuff’s coming and maybe all of this complaining will seem silly in a few months.
I have mixed feelings about the apparent direction of Mac development or lack thereof.
I do wish for some exciting software. The last time I personally said “Ooh I gotta have that” was probably the original MBA 11 (was that 09?). don’t laugh, but it works/worked for me.
But since then I’ve been pretty happy with an 2011 iMac and a 2012 MBA11. (2011MBP 15 another story, bleh) They’re both completely fine to this day with the most advanced tasks I have for them which is heavy photo editing and Photoshop. It’s saved me so much money that 5 year old computers are totally adequate.
And that’s my second point, at this time, what new tasks/operations will new Macs enable? For most users it doesn’t seem like much.
I would hope that Apple gives us reason to want upgrades beyond incremental performance increases and different form factors/ new/less ports.
*hardware
I have a 27″ 2011 iMac, I want a new 32″ or larger iMac in 2017. I do not want a Laptop or a iPad.
The chips in macs should be updated once a year.
And you would buy a new Mac every year?
No, but the whiners and doomsayers could maybe turn down the volume a bit if there was some seemingly semblance of interest shown- yes, we Do love be the Mac! They’ve been predicting Oct., post iPhone 7 for Quite a while. Come November, nothing happening, Then is the time for your tears.
No, not every year, but more often.
Why not keep up with the latest chips avail either? I didn’t say redesign the entire computer, just keep updating the chips to the fastest ones available.
How about a new design to allow incremental updates between major redesigns?
In our family, yes we would buy a Mac every year. We can afford to do so. The hand-me-down Macs that the kids get will be already set up, no more than 3-4 years old, while hubby and I stay current. We are not interested in tablets and watches, neither of which are complete enough for school age kids.
Looking forward to new Macs!!!
Hopefully they will be competitively priced. Apple’s SSD prices are outrageous!!!
I can buy a new aluminum Dell Inspiron 15 with an i7 processor, and a 512gb ssd for $899.
Apple wants almost half that amount for just the ssd!!!
Dont’ go 80’s and 90’s on us now Apple!
Yes, I can see it now…new MacBook Pros with the touchstrip function keys nobody asked for, same outrageous prices for SSD upgrades, sealed bodies, and you better order now because they won’t ship for a month and there won’t be another refresh until 2018.
$899. Great price.
Go for it.
Oh. I gather having to use Widows wouldn’t slow you down.
And all the pc software you would have to buy and learn wouldn’t be a problem.
Interesting to know what you are using now and for what. Lot of experts here would love to help you move up.
Just noting the comparison. I own two MacBook Pros and an iMac. No Dell computers here.
I’m in need of a new desktop Mac – do your little birdies of prognostication have any predictions on desktops?
Unless Apple has a considerable internal or external redesign for iMacs and Minis the updates for CPU and GPU performance will be incremental or modest. Please take this with a grain of salt.
Top quad core i7 for an iMac 27 should be the Intel Kaby Lake 7700 (3.6 base – 4.0 Ghz top). For GPUs inside the iMac and Minis the Intel Kaby Lake series should provide faster integrated GPUs. AMD discrete graphics 4xx series, but this series is a rebranded 3xx series so performance improvement should be incremental or even none existent. Hopes for Nvidia GPUs are small.
Maybe Apple will include faster SSD options and new connectivity. No 3.5 mm conector, Thunderbolt 3.0 and USB 3.1
Ive been doing some research into some theoretical Mac Lineups that I think should exist and what really strikes me is the high cost of the Core M processors. Wholesale cost is over 300 dollars for some of them. I was thinking there should be an Apple TV sized Mac Mini, fanless, Core m5, 8GB RAM, 256GB HD. It might be hard to price less than 599 and maintain their profit margins.
which leads me that they won’t get too excited about Macs until they switch to the A arm processors.
Core m5 would never be able to utilize 8 GB of RAM.
Both the m3 and m5 MacBooks have 8GB of RAM, they are plenty powerful and utilize the RAM.
Where are you finding wholesale prices for Core M processors?
The chips in Macs need to be updated every year. Period. No more skipping generations. With Intel and their delays (not dogging Intel, advancements in silicon are becoming more and more difficult), skipping 1 generation because the next is “coming soon” can delay a product by an extra 18 months or longer.
No, you and I won’t buy a new Mac every year. The reason to update Macs every year is so that the current for-sale models are FRESH. Everyone is on a different upgrade cycle. Maybe you don’t need an upgrade this year, but someone does. And it’s just good will to offer your loyal customers the latest and greatest when they’re paying top dollar. Always have a respectable lineup available so anyone who’s in the market can feel good about buying. Business 101.
I emailed Tim Cook about this. We’ll see if I ever get a reply.
So earlier this year, my work MacBook Pro (2011) died. I figured that the wait wouldn’t be too long until the new models, so I haven’t had any replacement since and I’m just working off a PC desktop. I refuse to buy hardware that is so old!
I’m absolutely flabbergasted that nearly eight months later there has not been a single update to hardware that I need to do my job. This is why you need to release new hardware every year!
Take that MacBook Pro in if its a 15 inch. There’s a good chance they’ll replace the MoBo for free if it’s the cause which is probably is
Or they’ll tell you, “That computer is too old. We don’t fix those.” And it will be another success story in Apple’s plan to speed your computer to the landfill.
I just did that 2 months ago.
Apple, puhleeze update the total Mac line to BLOW OUT the competition.
No excuse …🤔
I got a Windows laptop recently. 8 gigs ram, 1 TB hard drive, all for $570 or so. Yeah, Apple’s falling.
I oversee 5 iMac 27″ workstations and the AppleCare runs out on these Mac’s next August.
My usual idea is to replace these Mac’s when the AppleCare runs out with a mid to high end iMac (gave up on the PowerMac a long time ago).
If Apple continues to ignore the Pro market, I’m may as well move the lot to Windows, as it would be cheaper (of course), and currently a lot less hassle (which I’d never thought I’d hear myself say).
The list of workarounds, hacks, additional software required to make the Mac’s fit in a corporate environment is getting longer by the day.
If Apple doesn’t support the pro-market, a lot more goes away than just a few disgruntled content-creators.
Adobe, Microsoft and all the developers that tie all that together will just give up on the macOS and this will have a negative halo effect on everything else (iPhone, Apple watch, Apple TV etc).
I know I’m a small Apple customer, but I am loyal, and even I’m getting tired of Apple seemingly more interested in selling sparkly trinkets to the types of people you see in their ads, instead supporting the people who support the entire stack of products that Apple make huge profits from.
The frustrating thing is that with all Apple’s cash, they could really have it all – they either choose not to, or more worryingly, there just aren’t the people at Apple who know how to do this anymore.
My response to Apple’s ‘imminent’ but as yet, not official Mac refresh in October had better not be, “is that it?”.
Excellent points.
As I have said before, Apple with all their resources should release all NEW computers with specs that blow the competition out of the water!
WTF APPLE?!?
Apple owner since my Lisa… 🤔
It seems like I’ve been waiting an eternity for the new MacBook Pros to arrive. I know they’ll arrive eventually, however I’m hoping for:
Black MacBook Pro total redesign
16gb ram standard, ability to go to 32gb or 64gb
Upgraded graphics with 2gb ram
Sure, I’m asking for a lot but why not? We’ve been waiting for long enough now. Here’s hoping Apple really give pro graphics guys the machines we need.
We used to change out processors all the time on our G3-4 mini towers. Easy and fast. Used to change RAM too, but who would have ever thought that would stop being an option?
If the new Macs can’t be upgraded I won’t buy one. Stupid and insulting and very un-Mac-like.
Amen, brother.
Greedy Apple comes to mind. Certainly, they are no longer working with customers.
Apple owner since my Lisa … 🤔
As a photographer I was very disappointed when Apple let Aperture “die on the vine”. Looks like they are doing the same thing to the computer line. Hope I am wrong.
So, how do you like your new IPhone 10 with “iOS” code written on a Window 11 computer since Macs are …………….wherever?