Recent upgrades to the 12-inch MacBook helped provide Apple with a 17.1 percent notebook sales boost during the second quarter of 2017. The company remains fifth in overall market share, but it has been able to widen the gap between itself and sixth-placed Acer.
Apple shipped a total of 3.98 million notebooks last quarter, according to data from TrendForce. It now holds 10 percent of the overall notebook market — the same as fourth-placed ASUS. Dell remains in third with 16.4 percent, while Lenovo remains in second with 20.1 percent.
Once again, HP came out on top, with its market share rising to 23.4 percent up from 22.8 percent in the first quarter. Acer was the only company to lose market share, despite its aggressive focus on delivering ultra-affordable devices in the Chromebook market.
Apple’s sales increase has been attributed to the updates it made to the 12-inch MacBook. It also made improvements to the 13- and 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro lineup in June — adding Intel’s latest processors and faster GPUs — which should lead to a strong second half of 2017.
Overall notebook shipments for the second quarter increased 5.7 percent over the first quarter, and 3.6 percent year-over-year to total 39.96 million units. New devices are thought to be the reason for the increase, which exceeded expectations.
Third quarter shipments are expected to increase by another 3-5 percent, helped by back-to-school discounts and deals, but TrendForce has warned that we could see weaker demand during the second half of the year after such a strong start.
Apple could have something special up its sleeve that ensures demand for its own notebooks remains strong, however. Reliable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo expects the company to introduce a significant upgrade to the 15-inch MacBook Pro later this year.
Kuo previously labeled the device Apple’s “most significantly redesigned product this year,” with desktop-class RAM that will make the machine more suitable for professionals who require uncompromised power on the go.
