iPad and Mac growth continue unabated in Q2 2021

Mac and iPad revenue continue to grow

Apple saw revenue from its iPad line grow 79% and its Mac line grow 70.1% in record breaking second quarter.

Apple announced new budget iPads and M1-based Macs at the end of 2020, which fed growth for Q2 2021. The pandemic and work from home efforts have boosted sales of tablets and computers in most markets.

During the second quarter earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the last three quarters for Mac were its best ever. The momentum of Mac growth will only be aided by the recently announced 24-inch iMac.

"The demand feels very strong right now," continued Cook. "Both on the Mac side, you have the combination of work from home and remote learning. And in iPad, you've got remote learning and work from home as well."

Mac Quarterly Earnings

The Mac saw revenue of $9.1 billion, up from $5.4 billion in the year-ago quarter — a 70.1% increase. Customer satisfaction is at 97% for the Mac.

The iPad grew to $7.8 billion from $4.4 billion in the year-ago quarter. This 78.7% growth occurred before Apple updated the iPad Pro with an M1 processor, which could accelerate growth further.

iPad Quarterly Earnings

CFO Luca Maestri said the iPad grew in every geographic segment with sales records in Japan. Customer satisfaction of iPad is at 94%, with half of all new purchases belonging to new users.

The "Spring Loaded" event released new colorful iMacs and powerful iPad Pros that will enter the market during Q3. Expect further growth from each segment thanks to the ongoing hype surrounding the transition to Apple Silicon.

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20 Comments

elijahg

said about 2 years ago

"Mac growth continues unabated" is pretty misleading. Revenue ≠ sales. I wonder how much of that extra revenue is down to the estimated $40-50 for the M1 vs the $200+ for the Intel CPUs. Also, since soldered RAM has been a thing since 2015 with no appreciable bump in revenue there must have been a drop in sales to keep revenue flat (or no one upgrades the RAM, unlikely). In fact, 2016's Mac revenue was down on 2015. Interesting that they don't report sales, companies stop doing that when numbers are no longer impressive. Wishy washy language like "The demand feels very strong right now" doesn't really say anything. Sales according to third parties have been largely flat since about 2012, which is corroborated by Mac's market share being stuck at 10% for a very long time. Mac sales are growing with the market, not outperforming as they should be. Sales of all computers are up significantly in the pandemic. Apple has essentially run out of people who will fork out for Macs, whose prices continue to rise. This is a real shame, as Mac growth had real momentum until ~2012. I wish Cook would give the Mac more attention, but it's obvious he doesn't care about it at all.

tmay

said about 2 years ago

elijahg said:

"Mac growth continues unabated" is pretty misleading. Revenue ≠ sales. I wonder how much of that extra revenue is down to the estimated $40-50 for the M1 vs the $200+ for the Intel CPUs. Also, since soldered RAM has been a thing since 2015 with no appreciable bump in revenue there must have been a drop in sales to keep revenue flat (or no one upgrades the RAM, unlikely). In fact, 2016's Mac revenue was down on 2015. Interesting that they don't report sales, companies stop doing that when numbers are no longer impressive. Wishy washy language like "The demand feels very strong right now" doesn't really say anything. Sales according to third parties have been largely flat since about 2012, which is corroborated by Mac's market share being stuck at 10% for a very long time. Mac sales are growing with the market, not outperforming as they should be. Sales of all computers are up significantly in the pandemic. Apple has essentially run out of people who will fork out for Macs, whose prices continue to rise. This is a real shame, as Mac growth had real momentum until ~2012. I wish Cook would give the Mac more attention, but it's obvious he doesn't care about it at all.

Thank you, so much, for your completely unbiased reading of the results. It's a bold move to voice your opinions so forcefully on AI.

Just the other day, I too was thinking to myself, gee, I wish that Tim Cook would give the Mac more attention. Then I remembered that Apple just recently disrupted the PC business with the M series, and there is still another year and then some of more powerful M series releases just to fill out the existing Mac product line. Heck, Apple is at the front of the line for all of TSMC nodes. I mean, what is that all about?

So now I'm confused.

Is Tim Cook, et al, actually giving too much attention to the Mac?

Why isn't there an M1 iPhone Mega Super Pro Plus model, so I can get me 16 GB of RAM and some USB 4 lovin?

elijahg

said about 2 years ago

tmay said:

elijahg said:

"Mac growth continues unabated" is pretty misleading. Revenue ≠ sales. I wonder how much of that extra revenue is down to the estimated $40-50 for the M1 vs the $200+ for the Intel CPUs. Also, since soldered RAM has been a thing since 2015 with no appreciable bump in revenue there must have been a drop in sales to keep revenue flat (or no one upgrades the RAM, unlikely). In fact, 2016's Mac revenue was down on 2015. Interesting that they don't report sales, companies stop doing that when numbers are no longer impressive. Wishy washy language like "The demand feels very strong right now" doesn't really say anything. Sales according to third parties have been largely flat since about 2012, which is corroborated by Mac's market share being stuck at 10% for a very long time. Mac sales are growing with the market, not outperforming as they should be. Sales of all computers are up significantly in the pandemic. Apple has essentially run out of people who will fork out for Macs, whose prices continue to rise. This is a real shame, as Mac growth had real momentum until ~2012. I wish Cook would give the Mac more attention, but it's obvious he doesn't care about it at all.

Thank you, so much, for your completely unbiased reading of the results. It's a bold move to voice your opinions so forcefully on AI.

Just the other day, I too was thinking to myself, gee, I wish that Tim Cook would give the Mac more attention. Then I remembered that Apple just recently disrupted the PC business with the M series, and there is still another year and then some of more powerful M series releases just to fill out the existing Mac product line. Heck, Apple is at the front of the line for all of TSMC nodes. I mean, what is that all about?

So now I'm confused.

Is Tim Cook, et al, actually giving too much attention to the Mac?

Why isn't there an M1 iPhone Mega Super Pro Plus model, so I can get me 16 GB of RAM and some USB 4 lovin?

Not sure you've read my bias quite right, since I am are entirely invested in the Apple ecosystem with a product in every category Apple produces, and I am a shareholder too. Therefore, surely, my bias is pro-Apple?

I noticed you avoided responding to my comment about Mac sales being flat for the last 8 years.

Whilst the update rates have definitely improved in the last couple of years, probably in an attempt to counter those flat sales - and the M1 is absolutely disruptive to those who don't need Windows, just look at the rates of updates over the last 8 or 9 years. The Mac Pro went 6 years without an update. The Mini 4 years. The MacBook Pro, iMac and Macbook Air all had periods where updates were only once every 2 years. A lot of those updates were just minor spec bumps too, but even then Apple missed out entire new generations of CPU and left the rapidly advancing GPUs to stagnate. The iMac Pro was introduced then abandoned. They were selling the Mac Pro for the same price as it was introduced for, 6 years later. If that's not taking the piss, I don't know what is.

canukstorm

said about 2 years ago

elijahg said:

"Mac growth continues unabated" is pretty misleading. Revenue ≠ sales. I wonder how much of that extra revenue is down to the estimated $40-50 for the M1 vs the $200+ for the Intel CPUs. Also, since soldered RAM has been a thing since 2015 with no appreciable bump in revenue there must have been a drop in sales to keep revenue flat (or no one upgrades the RAM, unlikely). In fact, 2016's Mac revenue was down on 2015. Interesting that they don't report sales, companies stop doing that when numbers are no longer impressive. Wishy washy language like "The demand feels very strong right now" doesn't really say anything. Sales according to third parties have been largely flat since about 2012, which is corroborated by Mac's market share being stuck at 10% for a very long time. Mac sales are growing with the market, not outperforming as they should be. Sales of all computers are up significantly in the pandemic. Apple has essentially run out of people who will fork out for Macs, whose prices continue to rise. This is a real shame, as Mac growth had real momentum until ~2012. I wish Cook would give the Mac more attention, but it's obvious he doesn't care about it at all.

"I wonder how much of that extra revenue is down to the estimated $40-50 for the M1 vs the $200+ for the Intel CPUs."

Other than the Mac Mini, the rest of the M1 Macs remained the same price or increased slightly so saving money on the CPU wouldn't affect revenue at all. If anything, it'll positively affect gross margin / gross profit.

tmay

said about 2 years ago

elijahg said:

tmay said:

elijahg said:

"Mac growth continues unabated" is pretty misleading. Revenue ≠ sales. I wonder how much of that extra revenue is down to the estimated $40-50 for the M1 vs the $200+ for the Intel CPUs. Also, since soldered RAM has been a thing since 2015 with no appreciable bump in revenue there must have been a drop in sales to keep revenue flat (or no one upgrades the RAM, unlikely). In fact, 2016's Mac revenue was down on 2015. Interesting that they don't report sales, companies stop doing that when numbers are no longer impressive. Wishy washy language like "The demand feels very strong right now" doesn't really say anything. Sales according to third parties have been largely flat since about 2012, which is corroborated by Mac's market share being stuck at 10% for a very long time. Mac sales are growing with the market, not outperforming as they should be. Sales of all computers are up significantly in the pandemic. Apple has essentially run out of people who will fork out for Macs, whose prices continue to rise. This is a real shame, as Mac growth had real momentum until ~2012. I wish Cook would give the Mac more attention, but it's obvious he doesn't care about it at all.

Thank you, so much, for your completely unbiased reading of the results. It's a bold move to voice your opinions so forcefully on AI.

Just the other day, I too was thinking to myself, gee, I wish that Tim Cook would give the Mac more attention. Then I remembered that Apple just recently disrupted the PC business with the M series, and there is still another year and then some of more powerful M series releases just to fill out the existing Mac product line. Heck, Apple is at the front of the line for all of TSMC nodes. I mean, what is that all about?

So now I'm confused.

Is Tim Cook, et al, actually giving too much attention to the Mac?

Why isn't there an M1 iPhone Mega Super Pro Plus model, so I can get me 16 GB of RAM and some USB 4 lovin?

Not sure you've read my bias quite right, since I am are entirely invested in the Apple ecosystem with a product in every category Apple produces, and I am a shareholder too. Therefore, surely, my bias is pro-Apple?

I noticed you avoided responding to my comment about Mac sales being flat for the last 8 years.

Whilst the update rates have definitely improved in the last couple of years, probably in an attempt to counter those flat sales - and the M1 is absolutely disruptive to those who don't need Windows, just look at the rates of updates over the last 8 or 9 years. The Mac Pro went 6 years without an update. The Mini 4 years. The MacBook Pro, iMac and Macbook Air all had periods where updates were only once every 2 years. A lot of those updates were just minor spec bumps too, but even then Apple missed out entire new generations of CPU and left the rapidly advancing GPUs to stagnate. The iMac Pro was introduced then abandoned. They were selling the Mac Pro for the same price as it was introduced for, 6 years later. If that's not taking the piss, I don't know what is.

Thanks for regurgitating the past, which is not indicative of the Mac future, so sorry to burst your PC centric bubble;

Here's what happened in the PC world during that time;

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/01/pc-sales-finally-saw-big-growth-in-2020-after-years-of-steady-decline/

"During the Consumer Electronics Show this week, research firm IDC released a report on worldwide traditional PC sales in 2020, and it tells a rosier story than we've been used to in recent years. In the fourth quarter of 2020, PC shipments grew 26.1 percent over the same period last year.

That means 13.1 percent year-over-year growth overall, and the best year and quarter for PC sales in quite some time. In total, 91.6 million traditional PCs were shipped in the fourth quarter of 2020. "Traditional PCs" in IDC's report include systems like desktops, laptops, and work stations. For years, sales of these kinds of computers were declining at worst or growing negligibly at best even as other, newer computing gadget categories like smartphones, smart speakers, and tablets grew relatively rapidly.
IDC notes that the last time the market saw this kind of growth was way back in 2010, when modern multitouch smartphones were still building momentum and Apple's very first iPad had only just launched.
The growth was unsurprisingly largely "centered around work from home and remote learning needs," according to the report. But it also notes that segments unrelated to that, like gaming PCs and monitors, also saw significant growth over the course of the year. The overall growth is also partly due to the fact that "Chrome-based devices are expanding beyond education into the consumer market," according to IDC Vice President Ryan Reith."

Good luck on any PC growth as the pandemic ends.

EDIT;

https://twitter.com/neilcybart/status/1387517315512668160

"Half of people buying iPads and Macs are new to the product categories. It's been that way for a while now and it's still a shocking statistic."