Apple CEO Tim Cook (R) will examine the newly redesigned MacBook Air laptop during WWDC22 at Apple Park in Cupertino, Calif., June 6, 2022. Apple CEO Tim Cook has launched the annual WWDC22 Developers Conference.
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Apple The new laptop with iPhone maker’s next-generation in-house chip, announced on Monday, could pose new challenges. Microsoft Profitable Windows business.
The company’s computer business has gained momentum since Apple began selling Macs with its own M1 processor in late 2020. Earlier this week, Apple announced the M2. It debuts on the new MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro.
The new chip contains 25% more transistors and 50% more bandwidth than the M1.
Mikako Kitagawa, an analyst at technology industry research firm Gartner, said Apple could continue to gain market share with its M2 architecture. By 2021, Apple held 7.9% of global PC shipments per operating system, and Windows controlled 81.8%, according to Gartner estimates. The company expects Apple’s share to rise to 10.7% in 2026 as Windows’ share drops to 80.5%.
According to Kitagawa, the latest predictions that could make Apple’s performance look stronger will come in the coming weeks.
Apple’s Mac business has been revived with new devices equipped with its own chips. Intel.. First the MacBook Air released last year, followed by an updated model of the iMac, Mac Mini, MacBook Pro laptop, and a new model for power users called Mac Studio.
Apple’s new devices have longer battery life and more processing power than older Intel-based devices.
Sales are skyrocketing. Apple’s Mac business grew 23% in 2021 with revenue of over $ 35 billion.In March quarter, Mac sales grew by more than 14%, faster than any other Apple hardware category. Apple CEO Tim Cook “Customers’ astounding reaction to M1-powered Macs has helped boost revenue growth by 15% year-on-year, despite supply constraints,” he told analysts in April.
This is not great news for Microsoft.
Most of Microsoft’s Windows revenue comes from the licenses it sells to. Dell, HP, Lenovo and other device manufacturers. That’s 7.5% of Microsoft’s total revenue and nearly 11% of gross profit, Morgan Stanley analysts led by Keith Weiss wrote in a memo this week.
When Microsoft loses market share, “the market loses a lot of price controls,” said Brad Brooks, CEO of cybersecurity startups. Censys Previously, he was Corporate Vice President of Microsoft’s Windows Consumer Business.
Most of the revenue from Windows licenses to device manufacturers comes from commercial customers. Brooks said Apple is making progress among consumers, saying that during the nine years at Microsoft, there is a positive correlation between consumer use and what’s happening at work. I learned.
“When you start using a different product set in your home environment, you’re more likely to adopt it in a professional environment,” Brooks said of the company leader who makes the decision to buy technology.
Brooks said he switched to a Mac as his main computer in 2017 and said he needed an M2 machine in the future. He said that all of his company’s approximately 150 employees use Macs as their primary computer.
Due to concerns about incompatibilities in key applications, companies took a long time to adopt Apple’s M1 computer.However AdobeMicrosoft and other developers have gradually announced native versions of the software for their devices, Kitagawa said.
Patrick Moorhead, CEO of industry research firm Moor Insights and Strategy, said Windows PCs could ultimately have battery life and performance comparable to Apple’s latest Macs. Among the chip makers they use, “currently, it’s closer between Apple and AMD than between Apple and Intel,” Moorhead said.
However, Apple has the potential to offer cheaper computers, so there are other ways to pull it. Moorhead expects the MacBook SE to be priced at $ 800 or $ 900, compared to $ 1,199. Apple’s upcoming M2 MacBook Air.. This is similar to what Apple did with the iPhone SE. Missing Some of the company’s latest smartphone enhancements.
“A much cheaper MacBook SE will confuse Windows in a pretty big way,” Moorhead said.
Microsoft did not respond to requests for comment.
— CNBC’s Kif Leswing contributed to this report.
