Apple MacBook Sales Face 15%-20% Refurbished Discount Pressure as 10.8% Market Growth Masks Upgrade Slowdown
Updated
Updated · Forbes · Jun 27
Apple MacBook Sales Face 15%-20% Refurbished Discount Pressure as 10.8% Market Growth Masks Upgrade Slowdown
2 articles · Updated · Forbes · Jun 27
Summary
Apple’s high-margin MacBook retail sales are under pressure as consumers keep laptops longer and increasingly choose refurbished Apple Silicon models over current-generation machines.
15% to 20% discounts in Apple’s certified refurbished channel, paired with full warranties and AppleCare+, have weakened the case for buying new when older MacBook Air and Pro models still handle web, office and streaming tasks.
Six years after launch, first-generation Apple Silicon laptops still meet most consumer needs, while only professional users consistently benefit from each performance jump for coding, media production and generative AI workloads.
8GB baseline memory in older Macs could become Apple’s main lever to revive upgrades, because newer AI features such as Apple Intelligence are expected to require more memory and may leave legacy devices with a weaker experience.
The shift points to a broader end of the annual MacBook upgrade cycle, with buyers now prioritizing price-to-performance over owning the latest model.