According to the latest reports, Apple is transitioning to Apple Silicon chips based on ARM SoCs and has greatly increased sales of the system, and Apple has also become a major supplier of PC-level ARM SoCs. Overall, the ARM instruction set architecture now accounts for nearly 9% of the global PC market.
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“Apple has established itself as the market leader in ARM-based notebook processors, with nearly 90% revenue share [in 2021],” said the Strategy Analytics research firm. For years, companies like Acer, Dell, and HP have been selling Chromebooks and Windows-on-Snapdragon always-connected PCs (ACPCs) powered by various ARM SoCs.
However, due to mediocre performance or uncompetitive prices, these PCs never really caught on. With its M1-based iMacs, MacBooks, and Mac Minis launching in 2020 and throughout 2021, Apple has not only managed to deliver competitive performance and user-friendly designs but also price these systems very competitively. As a result, the Apple M1 Mac has attracted a lot of sales from loyal customers and new customers.
Apple far outpaces ARM-based Chromebooks and ACPCs in both sales and revenue, as its system prices are much higher than the average Chromebook high-end device. Since Qualcomm’s Nuvia-based ARM SoCs won’t be available until late 2023, Apple will continue to offer the fastest ARM SoCs for PCs and could lead the ARM desktop and laptop market for some time.
According to IDC data, 348.8 million PCs will be shipped worldwide in 2021, and 80.5 million PCs will be shipped in Q1 2022. Chromebook sales will total 37 million units in 2021 and 5.1 million units in Q1 2022. In the first quarter, Apple shipped 7.2 million Macs for a market share of 8.9%.
It’s important to note that currently, ARM-based SoCs support mainstream and even entry-level workstation devices, but they still can’t compete with high-end x86-based desktop PCs, especially in gaming.
The data shows that in 2021, the ARM mobile chip market revenue will increase by 27% to US$35.1 billion, with the top three being Qualcomm at 34%, Apple at 31%, and MediaTek at 24%. By product category, the total revenue of ARM’s mobile computing chips is 88% for smartphones, 9% for tablet computers, and 3% for laptop processors.
The ARM-based mobile computing market outperforms the x86-based mobile computing market in both revenue and units. According to estimates, total ARM-based mobile chip revenue in 2021 is nearly 20% higher than x86 (excluding chipsets and discrete graphics).
