Mac shipments up 8% driven by the M1 chip

In the first quarter of 2022, shipments of Mac grew by 8% based on a new report today by Counterpoint Research, which also indicates that the global PC shipments dropped 4.3% on an annual basis in the same period, reaching approximately 79 million units.

Counterpoint also explains the causes behind this decline, which are mainly due to global inflation weighing on consumers’ pockets, the ongoing conflict in Ukraine that has led to uncertainty for the social, political and economic future, the constant shortage of components caused also from the logistical difficulties, in particular to shipments by sea, and to the Covid pandemic in China which caused various blockages, especially in Shanghai and Kunshan where there are numerous laptop manufacturing companies.

Problems that, however, do not seem to concern Apple, which has continued to increase its shipments thanks to the success of Macs with M1 chips that continue to have strong demand. Dell also saw growth, albeit by only 1%. The situation is different for other companies such as Lenovo that while continuing to hold the lead in the global PC market with 18 million computers shipped, reported a drop in shipments of around 10%. On the other hand, it is in second place HP who has seen a decrease of 16% shipping around 16 million units. Acer shipments were also down, down 1%, due to reduced sales of Chromebooks.

Credit: Counterpoint Reserch

The report however believes that the shortage of the various components may be reduced in the second half of the year, since starting from the end of 2021 the gap between supply and demand has begun to close. OEMs and ODMs have continued to stockpile parts, and the decrease in consumer demand will help reduce the component shortage that has been seen so far.