A new report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) attempts to quantify how long consumers keep their Mac before buying a new model. Its conclusion, which will not please Apple, is that the numbers are increasing.
The study asked US consumers how old their old Mac was when they decided to replace it. By 2024, more than half (56%) said 3 years or older. This is a 16-point increase from the equivalent survey in 2020, when only 40% gave this answer.
While the “3+ years” category grew, all other categories shrank. The number of computer upgraders who kept their Mac for 2-3 years dropped from 19% to 13%; the number of people who kept their Mac for 1-2 years dropped from 23% to 19%; and the lucky few who were able to replace their Mac every year dropped from 19% to 13%.
According to CIRP, consumers are keeping their Macs longer because they are increasingly focused on streaming and web applications, meaning they have less need to upgrade processing power and therefore less incentive to upgrade frequently. CIRP also highlights a report by Mark Gurman that cites a decline in cutting-edge features and increased reliability and durability as reasons for the longer lifecycle of Apple devices.
“In recent years,” Gurman writes, “Apple’s pace of hardware innovation has slowed… The current MacBook Pro has the same basic form factor as in 2021, and I don’t expect a new look until 2025 or 2026. The MacBook Air was redesigned in 2022, and a future change is probably light years away as well. The bottom line: Getting the average consumer to upgrade regularly is harder than it used to be.”
A modern Mac computer with an Apple M-series chip is powerful enough that most Mac users can keep it for 3 years or more. Even the first machine to feature Apple’s M1 chip, the 2020 MacBook Air, still has enough oomph for everyday use like emailing, browsing the web, and simple photo and video editing.
In some ways, the report paints a good picture of Apple’s Mac lineup, but that will be little consolation if revenue dries up due to a lack of upgrade activity. Hopefully Cupertino has something exciting in store for the M3 Mac Studio.
This article was originally published in our sister publication igamesnews Sweden and has been translated and localized from Swedish.
