Microsoft’s Surface StudioDigitimes Research reports that Apple shipped 2.26 million iMacs in 2016, down from 2.53 million units in 2015 and the firm said that it expects Apple to update the device and push sales up to 2.36 million this year – in line with the number shipped by HP. Apple is expected to upgrade the units in Q3 and may also launch a ‘server-grade’ AIO intended to compete with the Microsoft Surface Studio. The firm said that the PC would have Intel’s Xeon E3-1285 v6 processor, 16-64GB ECC RAM, up to 2TB NVMe SSD and a powerful discrete graphics card
Quanta makes all the Apple units and around 50% of HP’s commercial AIOs, but all of its consumer AIOs. NEC also buys from Quanta, while Lenovo is buying from Compal and Asia Vital Components. Compal is also supplying Asus, which is seeing growth of 15% to 20% in AIOs. Compal hopes to grow its assembly business from AIOs to go up from one million to two million.
The firm estimates overall AIO sales of 12 million to 13 million per year.
The new server-grade iMac is expected to feature Intel’s Xeon E3-1285 v6 processor, 16-64GB ECC RAM, up to 2TB NVMe SSD and a latest discrete graphics card. The product is unlikely to become available in the market until the end of 2017.
