Apple CEO Tim Cook (R) looks at a newly redesigned MacBook Air laptop during WWDC22 at Apple Park on June 06, 2022 in Cupertino, Calif. Apple CEO Tim Cook kicks off the annual WWDC22 developer conference.
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Apple New laptops featuring the iPhone maker’s next-generation in-house chips, announced Monday, could face new challenges Microsoft’s Attractive Windows Business.
Ever since Apple began selling Macs powered by its homegrown M1 processor in late 2020, the company’s computer business has been gathering momentum. Earlier this week, Apple introduced the M2, which will debut in the new MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro.
The new chip will include 25% more transistors and 50% more bandwidth than the M1.
Mikako Kitagawa, an analyst at technology industry research company Gartner, said Apple may continue to grow market share with the M2 architecture. According to Gartner estimates, in 2021, Apple accounted for 7.9% of PC shipments worldwide by operating system, while Windows controlled 81.8%. The firm expects Apple’s share to rise to 10.7% in 2026 as Windows’ share will drop to 80.5%.
Kitagawa said an updated forecast that will likely strengthen Apple’s performance over the next few weeks.
Apple’s Mac business is revived by new devices that sport the company’s own chips as replacements for processors Intel, The first MacBook Air was released last year, followed by updated models of iMac, Mac mini and MacBook Pro laptops, and a new model for power users called the Mac Studio.
Newer devices from Apple tend to have longer battery life and a lot of processing power than their older Intel-based counterparts.
There has been a jump in sales. Apple’s Mac business grew 23% to more than $35 billion in sales in fiscal 2021. In March quarter, Mac sales increased by more than 14%, a sharper increase than any other Apple hardware category. Apple CEO Tim Cook told analysts in April that “the incredible customer response to our M1-powered Macs helped drive 15% year-over-year growth in revenue despite supply constraints.”
This is not good news for Microsoft.
Most of Microsoft’s Windows revenue comes from the licenses it sells Ditch, Himachal Pradesh, Lenovo and other device manufacturers. That’s 7.5% of Microsoft’s total revenue and about 11% of gross profit, Morgan Stanley analysts led by Keith Weiss wrote in a note this week.
As Microsoft loses market share, “a lot of pricing control is lost in the market,” said Brad Brooks, CEO of cybersecurity start-up Sensis and former corporate vice president for Microsoft’s Windows consumer business.
Most of the revenue for device manufacturers from Windows licenses comes from commercial customers. Brooks said Apple is leading the way among consumers, and he learned during his nine years at Microsoft that there is a positive correlation between consumer use and what happens at work.
“Once they start using a different product set in their home environment, they are more likely to adopt that environment in their professional settings,” said Brooks when speaking of corporate leaders, who make purchase decisions.
Brooks said he switched to the Mac as his main computer in 2017 and said he wants an M2 machine in the future. He said that about 150 employees of his company use Macs as their primary computer.
Businesses were slow to adopt Apple’s M1 computers because of concerns that key applications would not be compatible. but adobeMicrosoft and other developers have gradually come out with native versions of their software for devices, Kitagawa said, who now expect corporate adoption to increase.
Patrick Moorhead, CEO of industry research company Moor Insights & Strategy, said Windows PCs may eventually have battery life and performance that match Apple’s latest Macs. “Among the chipmakers they use,” Moorhead said, “it’s closer than between Apple and AMD, between Apple and Intel.”
Apple, however, has other levers to pull, as it can offer cheaper computers. Moorhead envisions a MacBook SE could cost $800 or $900, while the . Compared to a starting price of $1,199 for Apple’s upcoming M2 MacBook Air, It will be similar to what Apple has done with the iPhone SE, a budget iPhone that Absence of Some of the latest smartphone enhancements from the company.
“A MacBook SE will disrupt Windows in a very big way at a very low price point,” Moorhead said.
Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment.
— CNBC’s Keef Lacewing contributed to this report.
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