Has MacBook Air 15-inch flopped? Supply chain shipments allegedly stall

News
By Gerald Lynch
published

The MacBook Air 15-inch is a great machine that may be struggling to find an audience.

At home with 15-inch MacBook Air, on a mosaic balcony table and on a wooden floor.
(Image credit: Gerald Lynch / Future)

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.

Gerald Lynch
Gerald Lynch
Editor in Chief

Gerald Lynch is the Editor-in-Chief of iMore, keeping careful watch over the site's editorial output and commercial campaigns, ensuring iMore delivers the in-depth, accurate and timely Apple content its readership deservedly expects. You'll never see him without his iPad Pro, and he loves gaming sessions with his buddies via Apple Arcade on his iPhone 15 Pro, but don't expect him to play with you at home unless your Apple TV is hooked up to a 4K HDR screen and a 7.1 surround system. 

Living in London in the UK, Gerald was previously Editor of Gizmodo UK, and Executive Editor of TechRadar, and has covered international trade shows including Apple's WWDC, MWC, CES and IFA. If it has an acronym and an app, he's probably been there, on the front lines reporting on the latest tech innovations. Gerald is also a contributing tech pundit for BBC Radio and has written for various other publications, including T3 magazine, GamesRadar, Space.com, Real Homes, MacFormat, music bible DIY, Tech Digest, TopTenReviews, Mirror.co.uk, Brandish, Kotaku, Shiny Shiny and Lifehacker. Gerald is also the author of 'Get Technology: Upgrade Your Future', published by Aurum Press, and also holds a Guinness world record on Tetris. For real.

5 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Just_Me_D
    Are customers buying other models instead? If so then an argument can be made that it’s a flop. However, if consumers are simply not buying it and not buying other models then I would not call it a flop.

    These are difficult financial times and because of it, people are readjusting their priorities.
    Reply
  • iebock
    I think Apple screwed the pooch with the 15" Air. Yes the design is radical, the 13" M2 Air proved that. Heck I am sitting here writing this on a M2 Air. I was psyched for the 15" but why would I buy another M2 laptop. Where they messed up was they should have held off until the M3 comes to market. As the article says, we're half way through he M2 lifecycle as a new product. When I saw it had a M2 in it, the first words out of my mouth were, "I can wait".
    Reply
  • Just_Me_D
    iebock said:
    I think Apple screwed the pooch with the 15" Air. Yes the design is radical, the 13" M2 Air proved that. Heck I am sitting here writing this on a M2 Air. I was psyched for the 15" but why would I buy another M2 laptop. Where they messed up was they should have held off until the M3 comes to market. As the article says, we're half way through he M2 lifecycle as a new product. When I saw it had a M2 in it, the first words out of my mouth were, "I can wait".

    I have an M1 Mac Mini and a work-issued M1 MacBook Pro. Both machines are beasts and are exceptionally fast. When the M2 was introduced, I had no intentions of getting one because there wasn’t a need and the M1 is still awesome.
    Reply
  • iebock
    Just_Me_D said:
    I have an M1 Mac Mini and a work-issued M1 MacBook Pro. Both machines are beasts and are exceptionally fast. When the M2 was introduced, I had no intentions of getting one because there wasn’t a need and the M1 is still awesome.
    I skipped the M1 not because I thought it was bad that's for sure. Heck I put my mom in a M1 Air. I had the last of the Intel 13" Pro's and used it until the M2 hit. I wanted an Air over the Pro to be honest and wanted the M2. What I was really looking for was the chassis redesign of the Air and it didn't disappoint. I was thinking of going to the 15" if it was M3 as my wife needs a new personal laptop and she's decided that a Mac is where she wants to go over Windows. I use my Mac for work everyday vs she only occasionally uses her personal machine and never for work.
    Reply
  • FFR
    iebock said:
    I think Apple screwed the pooch with the 15" Air. Yes the design is radical, the 13" M2 Air proved that. Heck I am sitting here writing this on a M2 Air. I was psyched for the 15" but why would I buy another M2 laptop. Where they messed up was they should have held off until the M3 comes to market. As the article says, we're half way through he M2 lifecycle as a new product. When I saw it had a M2 in it, the first words out of my mouth were, "I can wait".

    I don’t think so. 15 inch m2 is going to be all over college campuses come the fall, and m3 will follow suit in October for everyone else.
    Reply