Thursday, November 7, 2024
MacNews

M4-based MacBook Pro featuring a 10-core CPU could be ‘exciting product launch’

The global personal computer (PC) market’s shipments grew 1% year-over-year (YoY) in quarter three (Q3) of 2024, dragged by resilient second quarter pull-in demand, according to Counterpoint Research. 

Apple sales were “relatively quiet” in quarter three, but the M4-based MacBook Pro featuring a 10-core CPU “could be another exciting product launch in the fourth quarter,” adds the research group.

The global PC market’s shipments grew 1% YoY in Q3 2024 to reach 65.3 million units, according to Counterpoint Research’s preliminary projections, continuing the positive YoY growth momentum that began in the first quarter. Despite the early pull-in orders in Q2 and relatively mediocre demand in China and Europe in Q3, the shipments were still ~5% higher than that in Q2, mainly driven by ongoing replacement demand before the end of Windows 10 security updates and technical support in 2025, and increasing sales of AI PCs, adds the research group.

Lenovo saw its fourth consecutive YoY shipment growth quarter in Q3. The brand has regained 25% market share since Q4 2020, riding on the trend of replacement cycle. HP and Dell remained resilient in the quarter, supported mainly by demand in the North American market and increasing enterprise orders. Apple was relatively quiet in the quarter as the market waited for its M4-based laptops and desktops, notes Counterpoint.

Mac sales dipped from 6 million in the third quarter of 2023 to 5.4 million in the third quarter of 2024, according to the research group. That’s an annual decline of 11%.

Apple plans to release new MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac mini models with the M4 series of chips around November 1, according to Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman.

“They’ll sport the M4 processor and highlight Apple Intelligence features,” he says. “The M4 chip will come to the MacBook Air, Mac Studio and Mac Pro during 2025.”

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Dennis Sellers
the authorDennis Sellers
Dennis Sellers is the editor/publisher of Apple World Today. He’s been an “Apple journalist” since 1995 (starting with the first big Apple news site, MacCentral). He loves to read, run, play sports, and watch movies.