“For a while there, Apple’s Mac business was really struggling. Not only was it a victim of a generally weak personal-computer market, but a stale product line in the face of aggressive moves from competing computer vendors also led the company to underperform the broader marke,” Ashraf Eassa writes for The Motley Fool. “Last October, though, Apple finally launched new MacBook Pro machines. It updated both its 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro lines, and because of all the new features it packed into these updated systems, the company charged higher prices for them than it did for the prior-generation models.”
“Apple reported shipping 5.37 million Macs in the first quarter of its fiscal year 2017, netting $7.24 billion in revenue from those sales,” Eassa writes. “Mac unit shipments were up from the 5.31 million Apple shipped in the prior-year period, amounting to 1.1% growth.”
“Apple’s Mac revenue in its most recent quarter was up 7% year over year, implying a solid increase in Mac average selling prices,” Eassa writes. “‘The Mac not only returned to growth but generated its highest quarterly revenue ever,’ Apple CEO Tim Cook proclaimed on the company’s first-quarter earnings call.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple reported shipping 5.37 million Macs in the first quarter of its fiscal year 2017 which spanned 14 weeks. That’s versus 5.31 million Apple shipped in the prior-year period which spanned 13 weeks. In other words, the periods being compared are unequal, with Apple’s most recent quarter being some 7% longer YOY, but Mac unit sales only increased 1.1% YOY. So, while Apple’s Mac business might at first glance look to be back on track, it really isn’t, yet.
Impossible to be back on track except for some portables. Mac Mini, iMac and Mac Pro are in stasis. The recent numbers would have been considerably higher if the complete line had been updated. There is considerable damming of desire going on with people waiting and those floodgates won’t release until updated product shows up (that people want and not an Ives design fantasy people don’t). Let’s hope that’s soon.
Apple is leaving easy Mac money on the table.
“that people want and not an Ives design fantasy people don’t). Let’s hope that’s soon.”
👍👍👍🤞🤞🤞🤞
what…
What do you mean… what is your question.?
The MacBook Pro won’t be “on track” until it has the latest Intel processor (e.g. Kaby Lake right now).
The other Macs are still sucking hind teat.
Other important numbers, revenue :
Macs : $7 billion
iPads : 5 billion
Other Products ( Watch, Apple TV , Beats, iPod, Accessories etc) : 4 Billion
When you look at this it becomes even MORE weird and frustrating (as a consumer and aapl investor) to see Apple neglecting the Mac.
How many Watch etc ads are out there vs near ZERO Mac (just the short run ‘bulb’ ad in the last few years).
Imagine if Apple had not neglected the Mac for years : No ads, slow updates or NO updates (Mac Pro, Mini). Revenue could be billions more ( just a few percent extra a year COMPOUNDED over Cook’s reign is a lot)
For people who keep saying on these forums that ‘Macs are over’, look at those numbers again…
Just yesterday a whole bunch said ‘forget the Macs, iPads are the future” , FACT even with the extra week iPad revenue is down 22% (as it’s been going down for years) .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yawn
gav you are a…
Gav,
Instead of sarcasm, if you want to debate why don’t you quote facts and numbers in a coherent argument? huh?
look friends, I am NOT anti iPad (got a 12.9 iPad Pro) or Watch, or Beats etc.
By all means Apple should push them by why NEGLECT such a big money earner and loyal Mac consumers?
Apple whose SVPs are doing fashion shows (like the Apple sponsored Met Gala) coffee table books, Christmas trees and a ‘Sex filled Romp of Dr. Dre’s Life’ miniseries and spending billions on the state of the art campus can do Macs as well. Apple is also spending $100 BILLION on buybacks etc to boost the stock. Most big investors are worried about Apple (if it had Google’s PE the stock would be over 300 now ) is that they say Apple is a DANGEROUS ONE PRODUCT iPhone company . DIVERSITY like a strong Mac line would help the stock more than tens of billions in buybacks.
Apple will prove to be insane, yet again if they dont put major force behind macs… poweuser/pros…
as they have shown they can sometimes be by axing displays.
mac looks like its more, but thats because they are the most expensive item… and they raised the price on all of them..
so of course it looks like its “back on track”
its not.. you should see the number of windows machines that are now dominating pro industry trade shows.. especially when they need more horse power then a single CPU from last year..
if you’re replying to me…
Never said “Macs were on track”
LOOK AT MY POSTS: I said over and over Apple has been NEGLECTING it.
I said they MAKE MORE MONEY than iPads, Watch etc. for WHAT EVER REASON … raised the price etc .. and neglecting it was dumb…btw Like i said I got the iPad Pro 12.9 , is THAT iPad cheap ?
typing this on an upgraded Cheese Grater Mac Pro and have another 2010 model waiting for the GTX 980 T I have in a box (just got the last power cable to pull extra power from the PCI power slots and the Drives). Did not want to upgrade this way but Apple isn’t building power GPU machines.
Davewrite, I 100% agreed with you
Ashraf Eassa is yet another example of why most of us posting to this site hate analysts. The vast majority of them are completely (yes, completely) out of touch with the reality of what they purport to be reporting.
“… because of all the new features it packed into these updated systems, the company charged higher prices for them than it did for the prior-generation models”. The reality is that many, many Mac users were waiting to upgrade their older portables. The reality is that Apple had a large, pent up user base that couldn’t wait for another year or more to upgrade and didn’t want to switch to Windows — at least not yet. Apple knew it could suck extra money out of those individuals.
The current Kaby Lake processors and other components and technologies that could create true state-of-the-art MacBooks, MacBook Pros, Mac minis, and iMacs are shipping TODAY. Apple should be shipping new versions of each and every one of these THIS QUARTER. But, the chances of that happening are about the same as me taking Tim Cook’s place as Apple CEO. (Though I must admit I’d probably turn it down in the astronomically small chance that the job were offered to me.)
Everything to make a true state-of-the-art Mac Pro will be available in quantity before the end of June. Will we see a true leading edge Mac Pro in July? The odds of that happening are more remote by several orders of magnitude.
This.
Plus another tidbit besides how prices were raised: it simply isn’t big news for revenues to be up by 7% in a fiscal quarter that’s one week longer (14 vs 13) than what it is being compared against….
TL;DR = the quarter 14/13 is +7.7% longer
-hh
The new MBP, as it is today, is horrible. The battery life is terrible and the touch bar doesn’t justify the cost increase. The new machine should have been released with Kabby Lake. Battery issue absolutely must be addressed it is god awful! Five hours on a complete charge is BS. When I went into the Apple store the only response I received from anyone was yeah people seem to be saying this. Very sad.
I bet they were smiling too when they said that….
I agree with Rob. Very poor user value compared to the competition.
Apple needs to demonstrate consistent releases of cutting edge Macs if it wants the business to be truly healthy. Ive and his minions are out of touch. DO NOT LET IVE DESIGN ANY PRO DEVICES, PLEASE. Pros don’t give a damn how thin it is.
Apple should build at least one desktop computer capable of having the latest third-party desktop GPUs installed and working 100%. I know it’s not going to happen but I can keep dreaming about it. I don’t see how this is asking for too much but from Apple’s low-power viewpoint I’m sure it is.
The Apple ecosystem is ailing thanks to their neglect of the Mac. Wake Up Apple!
Viva Macintosh! Don’t make me run out into the streets because this old-school evangelist will do it. The only problem is now I’d be protesting the company itself. People want a powerful, awesome Mac, Apple just doesn’t seem to want to sell them what they need.
If computers are trucks – then starting working on better trucks. Heavy lifters…
Not those crappy little thin laptops. They were never trucks.
They are toys.
Hey, if you don’t like what Apple is doing or not doing, why don’t you just move on to other platforms instead of bitching and moaning and hoping that one day (pipe dream) they might actually update those ancient (yes, ancient in the tech world) lines?
Be careful what you ask for.
Some of the most valuable customers Apple has have been leaving. Short term, iPhone can take up the slack. Long term, Apple will regret the mismanagement of all its non-iPhone businesses.
agree with Mike
Disagree that laptops are not heavy lifters. The power in the last 4 years of MBP is phenomenal and also benefited from SSDs. They have a lot of uses where portability (or simply being able to work on a couch) is an advantage.
Still, there is definitely a need for a basic mini tower that has the flexibility to accommodate cards, RAM and drives and uses the latest and greatest chipset from intel. There are enough geeks in the world that will want a machine like that.
The main issue I have with Macs nowadays is that the unit prices are going back up. For several years Apple were slowly dropping the price of their product lines and squeezing the competition into lower profit margin sectors. This helped increase unit sales and allowed Apple to be the only manufacturer to grow sales in a shrinking market.
Pipeline Tim likes to live in his own world of optimism and reality. Such a great company with such a weak leader.
Anyone that thinks he is doing a great job is really clueless.
1% of the company profit could hire 50,000 workers and pay them $50,000 each to get more done. And when you really think about it, the product sku’s (the main ones) are not even that large, that they should mostly be neglected and left stale in a fast moving eco-system.