Apple sees year-over-year increase in Mac laptop sales

Apple’s sold an estimated 3.4 million laptops in the first quarter of the 2017 calendar year, compared to an estimated 2.9 million in the previous quarter, according to TrendForce. This places it fifth among global laptop manufacturers, notes the research group with 9% market share.

Ahead of Apple are HP (22.8% market share), Lenovo (21.2% market share), Dell (14.3% market share), and Asus (9.8% market share). This doesn’t count tablets. According to TrendForce, Apple has 27.9% of this market, making it the top table maker.

Apple’s sales of 3.4 million laptops in the first quarter represents a 15.8% decline compared to the last quarter of 2016. However, it’s a year-over-year increase in overall laptop shipments.

The latest generation of MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, which was released in last year’s fourth quarter, was well-received by consumers and contributed significantly to the overall MacBook shipments, says the research group. As a result, first-quarter MacBook shipments, while representing a 15.8% decline versus the prior quarter, also showed a year-on-year increase of 15.4%. 

What’s more, TrendForce estimates that MacBook shipments for this second quarter will grow by more than 10% compared with the first quarter. This projection is attributed to Apple’s plan to update its 12-inch MacBook with a new processor and the possibility of promotional pricing for some older models.

Global notebook shipments totaled around 37.81 million units for the first quarter of 2017. This represents a 15.6% decline from prior quarter’s result but also a 6.1% year-on-year increase.