Apple upping MacBook Pro orders as working from home demand continues

Component suppliers are reporting that Apple is increasing its orders for MacBook Pro parts in a supply chain pressured by demand from more people working at home.

While the coronavirus appears to have badly affected iPhone sales, yet greatly bolstered iPad ones, a new claim says that the MacBook Pro is also profiting. Supply chain sources are saying that what was expected to be a short term rise in demand as people began working from home, has instead continued.

According to Digitimes, Apple is planning to increase its new MacBook Pro orders toward the end of the third quarter of 2020. Unnamed sources in what the publication describes as the "upstream supply chain," say that overall there will be 20% more MacBook Pro shipments in Q3 compared to Q2.

The upstream supply chain is a generic term cover all suppliers who produce components that go into a product that is then delivered to a company like Apple. An increase in orders for one supplier is not enough to extrapolate Apple's plans, as it may equally be reducing orders from another.

However, coming from sources across the chain gives this more credence. Digitimes has a strong track record in supply chain information, although a much weaker one in determining what that data implies for future products.

MacBook Pro models being sold in late Q3 2020 will continue to be the current Intel-based ones. According to regularly accurate analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, a new 13-inch MacBook Pro based on Apple Silicon will ship in the fourth quarter of the year.

13 Comments

GeorgeBMac 11421 comments · 8 Years

About 4 years ago

That makes sense.... And, the trend will not only continue but will likely grow substantially come September as Corona Virus cases skyrocket in the U.S.

To date, the only actions the U.S. has taken to control the virus have been stay-at-home, social distancing (which was meant to save the healthcare system rather than American lives) and, more recently, erratic, voluntary mask guidelines. But, even though the plague was for awhile reduced, it was never brought under control as other countries did -- and now it is either running out of control or headed in that direction.

So, knowing that the virus is alive and well and likely to get naturally worse as fall and winter approach as most viruses do, what is America's response? Open up everything!

We are likely to see a massive resurgence of infections which will drive a return both to work-from-home and cyberschooling -- even though those things never actually went away. Instead, most schools are planning a mix of in class and cyber learning. Plus, kids may be asked to bring their own computers to school to limit sharing.

This fall and winter could be another banner period for tech companies. The winner will be the NASDAQ

ednl 61 comments · 7 Years

About 4 years ago

I'd say that a refresh with 10th gen cpus and a normal keyboard also made a bit of a difference.

razorpit 1793 comments · 17 Years

About 4 years ago

GeorgeBMac said:

That makes sense.... And, the trend will not only continue but will likely grow substantially come September as Corona Virus cases skyrocket in the U.S.

To date, the only actions the U.S. has taken to control the virus have been stay-at-home, social distancing (which was meant to save the healthcare system rather than American lives) and, more recently, erratic, voluntary mask guidelines. But, even though the plague was for awhile reduced, it was never brought under control as other countries did -- and now it is either running out of control or headed in that direction.

So, knowing that the virus is alive and well and likely to get naturally worse as fall and winter approach as most viruses do, what is America's response? Open up everything!

We are likely to see a massive resurgence of infections which will drive a return both to work-from-home and cyberschooling -- even though those things never actually went away. Instead, most schools are planning a mix of in class and cyber learning. Plus, kids may be asked to bring their own computers to school to limit sharing.

This fall and winter could be another banner period for tech companies. The winner will be the NASDAQ

Don’t worry death rates and hospitalization rates have been dropping like a rock with all of this recent testing, Once the general public catches on that people are more likely to die in a car crash on their way to get tested than from COVID-19 itself, the panic from the media will finally fade. Life will return to normal. Something is majorly wrong with our media and reporting when most people have to take a test to see if they even had the disease and yet here we are.

On the Mac side, ironically enough I just about stopped using my 2016 work Mac Book Pro altogether. I bought a new Mac mini this past winter and have been using that. When I need to go mobile I’ve been using my iPad Pro. Nice combination for the work I do.

mtlion2020 70 comments · 4 Years

About 4 years ago

Surprisingly PC mag reported that HP sold the most laptops this year, twice as much as Dell and Lenovo.
i wish i could find that article or something supporting this, but when i searched "what company sold the most laptops in 2020"
the results were "what laptop you should buy" instead of facts.

i think most users will wait until the new silicon macs arrive later this year or 2021.

neilm 1000 comments · 16 Years

About 4 years ago

razorpit said:
Once the general public catches on that people are more likely to die in a car crash on their way to get tested than from COVID-19 itself, the panic from the media will finally fade. Life will return to normal. Something is majorly wrong with our media and reporting when most people have to take a test to see if they even had the disease and yet here we are.

I say thank you to "the media and reporting" for providing facts.

USA Covid deaths as of yesterday (12 July) are 134,572 and rising. Annual auto accident deaths run about 34,000 (although with the reduced driving this year due to lockdowns they may end up lower).