Summary created by Smart Answers AI
In summary:
- Macworld reports the MacBook Neo shipped 1.1 million units in Q1 despite limited availability, exceeding other Mac models’ performance.
- The Neo’s success stems from its novelty and lower price point, potentially boosting Apple’s share in the $400-$699 notebook market to 15%.
- Competitors including Windows laptop makers have reacted to the Neo’s popularity, with shipments expected to increase significantly next quarter.
If I were to tell you that Apple’s newest laptop, which costs about 40 percent less than any other laptop it’s ever made, and was all anyone could talk about for a solid month, was actually selling really well… you would probably respond with, “No duh.”
Well, that’s what’s happening. According to TechCrunch, market analyst IDC estimates that the MacBook Neo shipped 1.1 million units in the quarter ending in March. This, despite only being available for the last three weeks of March. That’s a lot more than any other Mac model.
What’s more, they claim that shipments increased in April, so the number will only go up in the next quarter, probably by a lot.
David Naranjo, associate director of Counterpoint Research, told TechCrunch that the Neo could “eventually help Apple increase its share of the $400-$699 notebook market from about 2 percent to around 15 percent.” I’m not sure what to do with those figures, since “eventually” could mean anything, and I’m not sure how Apple already has 2 percent of the $400-699 notebook market when they haven’t had a laptop priced anywhere near that, ever. Perhaps the 2 percent is his estimate of Apple’s current share, thanks to the Neo?
Number issues aside, none of this should surprise anyone. The MacBook Neo is the first truly new Mac in years, and it just so happens to be a laptop that costs hundreds less than any MacBook before it. We should expect the newest and least expensive (by a wide margin) new Mac laptop to be the best seller, but it also comes at a time when component shortages are causing surging prices, and overall inflation has everyone watching their wallets.
We knew it would be a hit when every Windows laptop maker scrambled as fast as they could to show that, actually, the MacBook Neo isn’t that great because this Windows laptop over here on sale for 50 percent off has bigger numbers on the spec sheet. But it seems that Apple has the biggest numbers that actually matter.
