Apple’s new laptops announced on Monday, featuring the iPhone maker’s next-generation in-house chips, might pose fresh challenges to Microsoft’s lucrative Windows business.
Since Apple started selling Macs powered by its homegrown M1 processors in late 2020, the company’s computer business has been picking up momentum. Earlier this week, Apple introduced the M2, which will debut in the new MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro.The new chip will include 25% more transistors and 50% more bandwidth than M1.
Mikako Kitagawa, an analyst at technology industry research company Gartner, said Apple could continue picking up market share with the M2 architecture. In 2021, Apple held 7.9% of worldwide PC shipments by operating system, while Windows controlled 81.8%, according to Gartner’s estimates. The firm expects Apple’s share to move up to 10.7% in 2026 as Windows share slips to 80.5%.
Kitagawa said an updated forecast that will likely make Apple’s performance look stronger is coming in the next few weeks.
Apple’s Mac business has been revived by new devices sporting the company’s own chips as a replacement for processors from Intel. The first was the MacBook Air released last year, followed by updated models of the iMac, Mac Mini, and MacBook Pro laptop, and a new model for power users called Mac Studio.
Apple’s newer devices have longer battery lives than their older Intel-based counterparts and plenty of processing power.
