Despite Apple’s record-breaking revenues, the Mac continues to struggle

By Luke Larsen Published January 28, 2020

Apple has announced record-breaking revenues for the first quarter of 2020 in nearly every product category, from the iPhone to Apple Music. There’s one sore spot in the mix, however: the Mac.

Mac fans often lament the lack of focus from Apple on its laptops and desktops. The marquee announcements often emphasize the iPhone — or more recently, services like Apple TV+ and Apple Music. But given the results the company is seeing from Mac, it’s easy to see what they’re talking about.

Digital Trends

The Mac didn’t experience much in growth year-over-year, with $7.2 billion in revenue. The same goes for the iPad, which was at $6 billion.

Major Mac releases in 2019 included the Mac Pro, the Pro Display XDR, and the 16-inch MacBook Pro. The company also made smaller updates to products like the MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro.

These products have been praised by the professional community, many of which undid the damage done by previous generations. The 16-inch MacBook Pro, for example, replaced the troubling butterfly switch keyboard with a more conventional one. The new Mac Pro is a more modular system with greater performance potential than the previous Mac Pro.

Apple said it faced a “tough year-over-year” comparison because of the launch of products like the MacBook Air and Mac mini in 2018. These are cheaper, entry-level products that provide a lower barrier to entry for the Apple brand. It is also notable that the launch of the new Pro-level products all came rather late in 2019, and were situated squarely in the higher-end of the market.

Apple did not comment on future Mac products on its earnings call, but we expect some big launches in 2020. In particular, we expect the smaller, 13-inch MacBook Pro to get a similar treatment to its bigger sibling, with a larger screen, thinner bezels, and an updated keyboard. It could be released as soon as the next few months.

We also anticipate some movement on an ARM-based MacBook that finally ditches Intel chips for its own A-series processors. We speculate that such a laptop could get announced or previewed at the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Luke Larsen is the Senior Editor of Computing, managing all content covering laptops, monitors, PC hardware, Macs, and more.

Computing

Apple silicon has made the MacBook Pro a consumer favorite

Someone using a MacBook Pro at a desk.

Apple’s computer lineup has greatly benefitted from its update to the M4 chip in 2024. The brand introduced the M4 MacBook Pro and iMac lines in the last year– and research has further indicated that Apple’s decision to shift from Intel processors to proprietary silicon was a solid move. It has made consumers favor Apple laptops more.

According to statistics from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), MacBook form factors, in either MacBook Pro or MacBook Air made up 86% of Apple’s PC market share in 2024. Consumers especially favored the M4 MacBook Pro at a rate of 53%, while 33% of MacBook Air models shipped during the year, and 14% of iMac models. These figures vary only slightly from the year prior; however, CIRP noted that Apple appears to have weathered any fluctuations that may have occurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Computing

Apple’s hardware can dominate in AI — so why is Siri struggling so much?

Apple's Craig Federighi presents the Image Playground app running on macOS Sequoia at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June 2024.

Over the past year or so, a strange contradiction has emerged in the world of Apple: the company makes some of the best computers in the world, whether you need a simple consumer laptop or a high-powered workstation. Yet Apple’s artificial intelligence (AI) efforts are struggling so much that it’s almost laughable.

Take Siri, for example. Many readers will have heard that Apple has taken the highly unusual (and highly embarrassing) step of publicly admitting the new, AI-backed Siri needs more time in the oven. The new Siri infused with Apple Intelligence just isn’t living up to Apple’s promises.

Computing

Here’s how Apple’s first foldable MacBook might win me over

The Zenbook Fold 17 open on a table.

Rumors have persisted for years now that Apple is working on a touchscreen MacBook, but I’ve never been truly convinced. For one thing, I don’t see how a touchscreen could improve my MacBook experience enough to justify the inevitable price rise. This is Apple we’re talking about, after all, and there’s just no way that a touchscreen MacBook will possibly come cheap.

As well as that, I’ve long agreed with Steve Jobs’ belief that adding a touchscreen to a regular MacBook is an ergonomic nightmare. Constantly reaching up to the display is a quick way to exhaust your arms, and paining its users isn’t really part of Apple’s playbook. The Mac operating system isn’t designed for touch either, and in any case, adding a touchscreen would result in all manner of greasy fingerprints on your monitor. It’s never seemed like a good idea to me.