
Apple's Newest Homegrown Chips Prose A Fresh Challenge
Apple's new laptops, which include the iPhone maker's next-generation in-house chips, could confront new challenges to Microsoft's lucrative Windows
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CIO Applications Europe | Tuesday, July 05, 2022

After announcing MacBook laptops with next-generation M2 chips, Apple is poised to surpass Microsoft Windows in the PC market.
FREMONT CA: Apple's new laptops, which include the iPhone maker's next-generation in-house chips, could confront new challenges to Microsoft's lucrative Windows business. Since late 2020, when Apple began selling Macs powered by its M1 processors, the company's computer business has been gaining traction. Apple unveiled the M2, which will be featured in the new MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro. The new chip will have 25 per cent more transistors and 50 per cent more bandwidth than the M1.
Mikako Kitagawa, an analyst at technology industry research firm Gartner, Apple's M2 architecture could strive to gain market share. According to Gartner, Apple controlled 7.9 per cent of worldwide PC shipments by the operating system in 2021, while Windows managed 81.8 per cent. Apple's share will rise to 10.7 per cent in 2026, while Windows' share will fall to 80.5 per cent. New products featuring Apple's CPUs in place of Intel processors have helped to revitalize the Mac business. The first was the MacBook Air, which was unveiled last year, subsequently followed by upgraded versions of the iMac, Mac Mini, and MacBook Pro laptops, as well as a new Mac Studio model for power users. The recent Apple products have processing power in affluence and longer battery lives than their older Intel-based competitors.
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Sales are increasing rapidly. In fiscal 2021, Apple's Mac increased sales by 23 per cent to nearly $35 billion. More than any other Apple hardware category, Mac sales escalated by nearly 14 per cent in the March quarter. In April CEO Tim Cook stated that despite supply challenges, the fantastic customer reaction to our M1-powered Macs helped push a 15 per cent year-over-year growth in revenue.
The lion's share of Microsoft's Windows revenue is generated by licences sold to Dell, HP, Lenovo, and other device manufacturers. According to Morgan Stanley analysts led by Keith Weiss, this amounts to 7.5 per cent of Microsoft's total revenue and nearly 11 per cent of gross profit. As Microsoft loses market share, a good number of pricing control in the marketplace is lost, quotes Brad Brooks, CEO of cybersecurity start-up Censys and former corporate vice president of Microsoft's Windows consumer business.
Businesses were slower to accept Apple's M1 computers because they were worried that important programs wouldn't work together. But over time, companies like Adobe, Microsoft, and others have released native versions of their programs for the hardware, according to Kitagawa, who now anticipates a rise in business use.
Windows PCs may someday outperform Apple's most recent Macs in terms of battery life and performance. It is currently closed between Apple and AMD than it is between Apple and Intel among the chipmakers they use, remarked Patrick Moorhead, CEO of market research firm Moor Insights & Strategy.
Apple may still produce less expensive computers, although it has other alternatives. In contrast to Apple's impending M2 MacBook Air costing $1,199, Moorhead imagines a MacBook SE that may sell for $800 or $900. It would be comparable to what Apple did with the iPhone SE, a less expensive iPhone that is devoid of some of the brand's most recent smartphone improvements. A MacBook SE at a much lower price point would significantly disrupt Windows, reflects Moorhead.
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