On Wall Street contrasted performance for Apple that is down 0.5% to $161 a share.
The performance of the stock appears to be penalized by the latest report published by the research company IDC (International Data Corporation), which has highlighted a sharp decline in global sales of PCs and especially Apple Macs.
Here are the in details.
Sales drop, -40% for Macs
In detail, the report highlighted a 29% drop in traditional PC sales in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same quarter of 2022. Apple is the worst among computer makers, given that its sales in this sector are crolate of 40%going from 6.9 million sales made in the first quarter of 2022 to 4.1 million in the last three months.
The same dynamics also for the other main PC manufacturers, and among the market leaders, Lenovo and Dell Technologies see declines of more than 30%, while HP’s sales are down 24.2%.
But not only that, computer sales have not only decreased from last year but also from pre-pandemic levels.
It all comes down to one decline in market shares world in the field of PCs, with that of Apple passing from 8.6 to the current 7.2%.
A complicated economic context
These little comforting data are mainly driven by a decline in global demand for computersbut also to a excess stock and al deterioration of the macroeconomic context.
“These preliminary results also represent a conclusion of the Covid-19-led era of demand and a return, at least temporarily, to pre-pandemic models,” the IDC report reads.
However, declines in the PC market are not totally unexpectedbut conversely, have been observed for multiple consecutive quarters, although a possible rebound in the second half of the year is not ruled out, said a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst.
From this point of view, the same financial director of the Cupertino house, Luca Maestrijust a few months ago he said he expected a sharp year-on-year decline in Mac and iPad sales in the first three months of 2023.
Also, according to the Bloomberg analyst, “Apple could also be particularly hit by increased exposure to the consumer market“.
But not only, the negative trend of Apple’s sales had already emerged in the accounts for the fourth quarterwhen PC revenues decreased by 28.66% compared to the same period of 2021.
All is not lost
Not all bad comes to harm, in fact, cooling demand is giving computer makers the time and space to “make changes to their industrial organizations, redesigning their industrial plans as many factories begin to explore manufacturing options outside of China“. From this point of view, Apple is gradually diversifying the geography of its supply chain and production, all in a context where the growing tensions between Washington and Beijing threaten to disrupt Apple’s supply chain.
The viewer is coming
Meanwhile, Apple is preparing to launch its next range of laptops and desktop PCs, including a new iMac, later this year.
But not only that, Apple on June 5 could present the long-awaited mixed reality (MR) headset, a product that is seen by the same company as “the beginning of a post-iPhone era”. The launch in question will allow the Cupertino company to enter a new market with enormous potential.