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Apple ditched Intel, and it paid off
Apple's decision to ditch Intel paid off this year.
The pivot allowed Apple to completely rethink the Mac, which had started to grow stale with an aging design and iterative annual upgrades. Following the divorce from Intel, Apple has launched far more exciting computers which, paired with an ongoing pandemic that has forced people to work and learn from home, have sent Apple's Mac business soaring.
It wasn't always a given. When Apple announced its move away from Intel in 2020, it was fair to question just how well Apple could power laptops and desktop computers. Apple has used in-house chips for iPhones and iPads but had been selling Intel-powered computers for 15 years. It wasn't clear how well its macOS desktop software would work with apps designed to run on Intel chips, or whether its processors would offer any consumer benefits and keep up with intensive tasks that people turned to MacBooks to run.
[...] In April 2021, CEO Tim Cook said during the company's fiscal second-quarter earnings call that the M1 chip helped fuel the 70.1% growth in Apple's Mac revenue, which hit $9.1 billion during that quarter. The growth continued in fiscal Q3, when Mac revenue was up 16% year over year. [...] There was a slowdown in fiscal Q4, when Mac revenue grew just 1.6%, as Apple, like all manufacturers, saw a slowdown from the burst of sales driven by the start of the pandemic and dealt with supply chain woes. But fiscal Q4 sales didn't include revenue from its most exciting new computer of the year.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday December 30 2021, @08:23AM
Apple isn't the only laptop maker producing 'very thin' devices.
Some people really like the UI, the form factor AND the 'safe' nature of their dealings with the company - buying a new apple device is predictable and easy. They do look nice on a desk or cafe table.. and, for 99% of users, a chromebook for 1/10th the price would have worked just as well - but it wouldn't have looked as good, or been 'apple' enough.
Now Apple has the 'work from home middle-aged' as well as the 'hip teen' market groups, they really don't care if the hard-core programmers and other geeky types don't buy apple - face, most don't buy new devices anyway, so no lost sales there.
EU directives on USBC no doubt played a part in the ditching of the mag-safe port.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex