Apple’s history from the original Macintosh shows a certain rather recognizable pattern: It started with a few Mac models introduced each year, followed by a growing line that skyrocketed in the mid-1990s, coinciding with Steve Jobs’s time out of the company. . After the return of Jobs, this figure fell again and then followed another rebound due to the evolution of Apple and the market, remaining at more moderate levels. And now we come to the Mac phase using chips designed by Apple itself for the first time. What about Mac launches at this stage?
We wanted to answer that question. We have created a spreadsheet in which we have added every different Mac computer introduced by Apple from 1984 to 2021 in which it already seems difficult for us to see any more in the remaining five weeks of the year (even Tim Cook’s farewell in the last keynote sounded like “until next year”). Nuances: the distinction between each computer model is marked, in addition to the specific model, by its processor or by the number of ports, but not by the accumulated possibilities offered by the RAM or storage extensions, nor by the number of colors in which it is available.
Out of this list are both the nineties clones released by other brands such as products such as Newton, since we consider that if it does not make sense to include the iPad or the iPhone in the list, neither does it make sense to include the PDAs of the nineties. Total, 836 different computers launched by Apple in all this time, with variations from the single model introduced in 1985 (Macintosh XL) or 1988 (Macintosh IIx) to the 48 different models introduced in 1995, the time when the company almost went bankrupt.
33 Macs in 2019, only 10 in 2021
In some years prior to the transition, the figure also fell, as in 2016 or 2018. Those were the years when the Mac Pro had its journey through the desert with years without being updated, or with the iMac falling into insignificance and oblivion. by Apple. Also when the 12 “MacBook was discontinued or when the MacBook Air spent a while before being revamped with the new design language. Something similar to what happened with the Mac mini.
A time that resulted in few Macs released during two alternate years and that was giving way to the consolidation of the trend: In 2020, the last with Intel computers launched, 18 different models were presented, something that had not happened since the days before the iPhone – except for the two years mentioned. In 2021, this line has been reinforced with only ten models presented, something that is helped by the simplification in terms of processors that the transition to Apple Silicon brings.
Now we will have to see how this trend continues in the coming years, when products that remain to be updated arrive, such as the larger iMac or the Mac Pro; as well as the long-awaited redesign of the Mac mini or MacBook Air. Also with the unknown of what will happen to a 13 “MacBook Pro that has been in uncomfortable terrain.
If we make another reading of this trend we can also see how the arrival of each of the five CEOs that Apple has had in this time impacted: that of John sculley in a first stage still with Jobs in the directive and in a second without him; that of Michael Spindler skyrocketing the number of launches to levels never reached again and sinking the company; the ephemeral of Gil Amelio as an emergency safe-conduct that gave such a good result including the purchase of NeXT instead of Sun; the own of Jobs occupying the position on his return, and of course the golden decade of Tim cook.
The Mac, just after a decade of light and shadow, too many shadows (the butterfly keyboard, the basic error with the 2013 Mac Pro, the oversimplification of the 2016 MacBook Pro, a Touch Bar that was born doomed, too long without updating the successful MacBook Air …), faces a decade marked by the possibilities offered by the jump to ARM with chips designed by Apple itself and not by a third party, we will see how the graph evolves in the coming years.
At the moment, everything points to a trend that follows the path of fewer computers than in the Intel stage. The simplification that Apple Silicon allows and that the company has chosen. A quick example:
MacBook Pro 16 “
- 2019 (Intel): six models. i7 2.6, i9 2.3, i9 2.4, i7 2.6 5600M, i9 2.3 5600M, i9 2.4 5600M.
- 2021 (Apple Silicon): three models. M1 Pro 16 cores, M1 Max 24 cores, M1 Max 32 cores.
For the curious, we leave the complete list of Mac computers presented each year, you have to do scroll horizontal and vertical. They are not few.