iPhone 6 is so good it’s even eating into notebook sales

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The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are ten weeks away.
Photo: Apple
Photo: Apple

When you sell 10 million iPhone 6 and 6 Plus devices in your first weekend on sale, it doesn’t just disrupt other smartphone companies, but notebook manufacturers as well.

According to a new report from Digitimes, notebook sales took a massive hit in August due to customers waiting on Apple’s new handsets. Since sales of the iPhone 6 family devices will most likely continue through the fourth quarter, many notebook vendors are reducing their orders from manufacturers to avoid unsold inventory piling up.

The report says that 2014 was originally viewed as being a good year for notebook sales, with demand picking up early in the year and building from there. In particular, retailers thought they were onto a good thing with Intel and Microsoft cooperating with Dell, HP, Acer, Lenovo, Toshiba and others to release a series of Core M processor-based 2-in-1 devices and 10-to-15-inch inexpensive notebooks.

However, once news about Apple’s new iPhone 6 started to spread, the massive increase in demand fell off a cliff, as everything became all about Apple.

Digitimes cites industry sources as saying that IT industry players are now targeting 2015 as their next big year — apparently unaware that Cupertino will be releasing its next generation iPhone and iPad devices then, too.

Of course, the two events could be unrelated, but it seems an interesting coincidence that Apple’s biggest iPhone yet would happen to align neatly with a fall-off in demand for notebooks. Interestingly, while PC sales have plummeted in recent years, Mac sales have grown 18 percent year over year.

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