According to global market intelligence firm IDC, in Q1 2023, Apple’s computer shipments took a nosedive, which is obviously causing concern for some investors.
According to a CNBC article published earlier today, Apple’s global computer shipments experienced a significant 40.5% YoY decrease in Q1 2023, amid an overall decline in consumer demand, as reported by research firm IDC. The top five computer manufacturers, including Apple, ASUS, Dell, HP, and Lenovo, apparently all witnessed double-digit declines in Q1 shipments due to weaker demand and ongoing inventory issues. However, Apple’s decline was reportedly the largest among them.
The CNBC article, citing IDC data, states that Apple’s global PC market share dropped from 8.6% in Q1 2022 to 7.2% in Q1 2023. If IDC data is correct, in Q1 2023, Apple shipped 2.8 million fewer devices YoY. Apple CFO Luca Maestri had already anticipated double-digit declines in Mac and iPad sales for Q1 2023.
Currently (as of 5:50 p.m. UTC on April 10), shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) are trading at around $161.53, down 1.90% today.
IDC suggests that the preliminary results mark a temporary return to pre-COVID patterns. CNBC says that IDC researcher Jitesh Ubrani mentioned in the report that elevated inventory levels might persist until Q3 2023 despite heavy discounting.
The IDC report also predicts that PC manufacturers will face challenges in the short term but may expect growth to resume by the end of the year. This period of weakened demand could provide companies like Apple an opportunity to reevaluate their plans and address supply chain issues. The CNBC article points out that Apple has already started encouraging suppliers and assemblers to expand operations beyond China.
Apple is set to report its Q1 2023 earnings on May 4.
On April 5, Andy Baio, a former CTO of Kickstarter, published a blog post in which he said:
“While trying to fix my printer today, I discovered that a PDF copy of Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin whitepaper apparently shipped with every copy of macOS since Mojave in 2018. I’ve asked over a dozen Mac-using friends to confirm, and it was there for every one of them. The file is found in every version of macOS from Mojave (10.14.0) to the current version, Ventura (13.3), but isn’t in High Sierra (10.13) or earlier.“
On April 6, Binance Co-Founder and CEO “CZ” tweeted his appreciation for the person who managed to put the Bitcoin whitepaper on every Mac, saying, “Who is the guy that put the #bitcoin whitepaper on every Mac? I want to buy him a drink in person.”
