Apple's 15-inch MacBook Air Unit Sales Reportedly Lower than Expected

[T0@st]

Apple introduced its 15‑inch MacBook Air at June's WWDC23 event—the giant multinational technology had taken feedback from its customer base, and followed through by rolling out a larger version of the existing M2-based 13-inch model. That appeasement could be a wasted effort, given the latest rumors emerging from Asia. DigiTimes has gathered information from sources within Apple's supply chain—they claim that "the 15-inch MacBook Air...reportedly didn't meet customer demand expectations. There are even calls for the supply chain to put shipments on hold."

The 15-inch MacBook Air's shipment volume for July is reportedly 50% short of the company's original projection, with a broad downturn in the global notebook market factoring in as a reason for sluggish sales. The model's $1299 starting price appears to be quite reasonable at first glance, but the entry point only gives you a spec consisting of non-upgradable 8 GB (unified) RAM and 256 GB solid state storage. A discerning buyer is semi-forced to shell out closer to $2000 for a more competitive configuration, comparable to the closest Window 11 slimline laptops. The high asking prices, on top of a mixed reception around launch time have done the 15-inch MacBook Air few favors. Apple enthusiasts are probably saving up and waiting for the arrival of upcoming M3 chipset-equipped models. DigiTimes reckons that an "upcoming announcement" regarding a next-gen MacBook Pro is due very soon.



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[HughMungus]

Over priced, base model only has 8gb RAM. Not worth it, especially in this economy

 

[Canned Noodles]

Over priced, base model only has 8gb RAM. Not worth it, especially in this economy

Yeah, with those specs it's like paying $1299 for a fancy chromebook

 

[rv8000]

Mac product over priced for awful specs in comparison to market… news at 11.

Paying more for less is really catching on

 

[claes]

Think it has more to do with the 14” MBP pricing

8GB is probably enough for most users due to Apple’s ecosystem, but even at $1300 you can get a 13” pro, which isn’t really better in anyway, making the whole lineup confusing on the low end

 

[sethmatrix7]

I would love to have one of these laptops, but the pricing to actually get a decent system is insane. This model with 16gb ram and 1tb storage runs $1899.

 

[neatfeatguy]

$1300 for 8GB RAM and 256GB storage.....

There are phones that are cheaper then that and gives you just as much RAM and storage space (even more). I'd rather have an $800 phone with just as much RAM and storage space over your laptop/chromebook looking thing.

 

[thunderingroar]

SSD and RAM prices are at their historic low yet apple is upcharging so much for these upgrades.

Like 64GB of ddr5 goes for 200$ and 1TB gen3 SSD for 50$

 

[bonehead123]

Perhaps the fruity bois are attempting to push their own version of Jacketman's "spend moar, save moar" philosophy, hehehe

Hint: it doesn't appear to be workin guys !

 

[ThomasK]

Strap an Apple logo on it and it sells, they said.

 

[jrocket]

$1300 for 8GB RAM and 256GB storage.....

There are phones that are cheaper then that and gives you just as much RAM and storage space (even more). I'd rather have an $800 phone with just as much RAM and storage space over your laptop/chromebook looking thing.

Do you do productivity work on your phone? Not exactly the best platform for that.

 

[neatfeatguy]

Do you do productivity work on your phone? Not exactly the best platform for that.

I do more on a phone then I would on an Apple craptop.

Folks will run in to defend Apple here from this comment, but with all the bad crap I had happen with their stuff, they're just a shitty, overpriced hardware company with cheap products. You can't sway my opinion from this based on my experience over the years with their junk.

I'm glad their sales seem to be falling way short - maybe they might change how they do things, but I highly doubt it since they still rake in the money from other aspects of their company.

 

[Minus Infinity]

Apple markets themeselves as a premium brand and then has entry level garbage specs for high prices. Anything less than 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD in 2023 is just taking the piss. And then to make them non-upgradable is the ultimate kick in the nads.

 

[claes]

I’m not a fan of the pricing, or the downgraded SSD, but if you don’t think 8GB of ram on a m-series Mac isn’t enough for the vast majority of users you probably haven’t used one, or an Intel Mac for that matter

 

[Dan.G]

I think there's a typo in the title? Expected instead of excepted?

 

[Luke357]

Apple markets themeselves as a premium brand and then has entry level garbage specs for high prices. Anything less than 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD in 2023 is just taking the piss. And then to make them non-upgradable is the ultimate kick in the nads.

A 512GB SSD is usually enough for most people. I personally like more storage but I can live with a 512GB laptop if need be. The lack up upgradability SUCKS but is unfortunately very common these days. I personally won't buy anything without upgradable storage (and depending on form factor RAM too).

 

[trparky]

Over priced, base model only has 8gb RAM. Not worth it, especially in this economy

Yep. 16 GBs should be a bare minimum for anything let alone a premium market device. Having to use swap space should be kept to an absolute minimum and you can't do that with 8 GBs of RAM.

$1300 for 8GB RAM and 256GB storage.....

And let's not forget that the SSD, all 256 GBs of it, is only on one NAND chip whereas with the older M1-based notebooks the 256 GB SSD had two NAND chips. With it only having one NAND chip, the I/O performance took a major shit.

 

[claes]

Yep. 16 GBs should be a bare minimum for anything let alone a premium market device. Having to use swap space should be kept to an absolute minimum and you can't do that with 8 GBs of RAM.

It’s not a premium device though, it’s a sub-notebook

And let's not forget that the SSD, all 256 GBs of it, is only on one NAND chip whereas with the older M1-based notebooks the 256 GB SSD had two NAND chips. With it only having one NAND chip, the I/O performance took a major shit.

That’s the real issue here. Apple had managed to optimize ram and SSD performance way beyond other platforms, don’t know why they’d nerf the performance of the SSD at the entry level when it costs them pennies

 

[trparky]

It’s not a premium device though, it’s a sub-notebook

By virtue of the fact that it's an Apple device puts it square in the premium device category. I'm certainly not going to plunk down that kind of cash for sub-standard performance.

don’t know why they’d nerf the performance of the SSD at the entry level when it costs them pennies

I don't know either. They definitely nerfed it, that's for damn sure.

 

[Super Firm Tofu]

don’t know why they’d nerf the performance of the SSD at the entry level when it costs them pennies

I don't know either. They definitely nerfed it, that's for damn sure.

It's not that hard, friends. It's right out of Tim "upsell" Cook's newest book:

 

[trparky]

Yeah, but an upgrade is an upgrade... not a downgrade.

That's why I don't own anything Apple but my iPhone and my Apple TV. Yeah, I'd like to explore the world of Mac but it's shit like that that Apple pulled that makes me think otherwise.