We called the 15-inch MacBook Air "the perfect MacBook for almost everyone," but a new report claims that it's been a slow start for Apple's supersized MacBook Air.
According to a paywalled DigiTimes report seen by iMore, supply chain shipments for the MacBook Air 15-inch are being revised down, and could potentially be put on hold altogether. That's bad news for Apple as it enters the lucrative 'back to school' shopping period in which MacBooks for students become a big-ticket item.
Speculation from the source puts it down to weaker-than-expected customer demand for the new model — as much as 50% lower than Apple's initial projections laid out. "Industry sources revealed that demand for the 15-inch MacBook Air has already declined," the report states, adding "some customers are even requesting a shipment volume reduction to avoid building up a front-end inventory."
MacBook meets the maligned market - iMore's take
It seems that even Apple is not immune to a downward trend in the laptop sales market, which is being felt right across the industry. In fact, Apple's higher-priced, premium items may be being seen as simply out of reach by customers feeling the pinch as the cost of living soars in a post-Pandemic world. DigiTimes research claims that Apple's 2023 shipments will be down almost 15% against 2022's numbers to 19.9 million units. That's a sharper decline than the wider laptop market's 13.2% drop.
That's not to say the MacBook Air 15-inch is a bad machine — in fact, it's a great one. With a larger screen and the powerful M2 chipset, at a price that isn't outlandish (at least within Apple's own range), it's well suited to the person looking for the space of a MacBook Pro, without the price tag. But it's still a steep asking price compared to budget Windows machines.
There's also the sense that the device is sandwiched between two important launches from Apple. The device, screen size aside, is almost identical to the 13-inch MacBook Air that was released in 2022, which itself was a more radical redesign. It's likely many potential MacBook buyers pulled the trigger with that redesign. And then there's the inevitable launch of the M3 Apple silicon chip — the MacBook Air 15-inch launches at a point where we'd expect the M2 chip it packs is halfway through its lifespan. A savvy customer might hold out for next year's revision, which would likely see a performance bump.
