19.1.2022 | Market analyses ITscope Market Barometer Q4/2021

Apple is a Christmas 'star' with the iPhone 13: ITscope Market Barometer Q4 2021

The ITscope market barometer Q4/2021 is here – with the current top sellers from seven categories and the best newcomers on ITscope!

ITscope market barometer as a PDF (English)

The ITscope market barometer is based on ITscope GmbH’s own analysis.

Karlsruhe, 20/01/2022 - Apple is a favourite underneath the Christmas tree, the iPhone 13 series is taking off and a somewhat rarely seen face scores one of the top positions in the notebook category. Intel's new Alder Lake processors and Gigabyte's new motherboard get off to a good start, while the Surface Pro 7 has to relinquish the tablet lead.

Traditionally, the last quarter of the year is a successful time for Apple - especially when it comes to the Highflyer Charts. Apple's newly released products from late summer have now fully arrived in the market, and were also very popular as Christmas gifts. While the chip shortage continues to impact the economy and, according to a survey conducted by ITscope, is expected to continue for the next few months or even years, Apple seems to be doing exceptionally well nevertheless. Products featuring the famous apple logo are flying past competitors at full throttle in the Highflyer Charts, leaving hardly any room for the competition: no less than five of the top 10 positions have been claimed by Apple.

And things are also going well for Apple in the individual product categories, especially in the smartphone segment - the iPhone 13 series is picking up speed and approaching the top, which is currently still held by the long-running favourite iPhone SE. "The fourth quarter in particular has often been very strong for Apple in previous years. However, the success of the iPhone SE, combined with the promising prospects of the iPhone 13 and the new iPad, are truly unique this year" states Oliver Gorges, Head of Channel Development & Cooperations at ITscope, while describing the current market barometer. Apple is also shining in the tablet category, although the new iPad didn't quite make first place, with Microsoft still leading here - for the time being. In the notebook category, Acer, a manufacturer rarely seen in the top 10 before, scores second place with the TravelMate Spin B3. Dell's ever-popular P2419H is holding on to the top spot, so there is no big news to report from the monitor category. However, developments in the CPU category are exciting: Intel's new trio of CPUs performs really well thanks to the new Alder Lake hybrid architecture - will AMD soon have to deal with new competitors at the top?

Content

Highflyers: Apple, the star underneath the Christmas tree
TFTs: no changes in sight
Smartphones: iPhone 13 series takes off
Tablets: replacement for the Surface Pro 7
Notebooks: Acer storms into the notebook top 10
PC systems: Lenovo's ThinkCentre M70q 11DT proves itself
Mainboards: Gigabyte's newcomers on the road to success
Processors: do Intel's Alder Lake CPUs have a shot at making it big?

Highflyers: Apple, the star underneath the Christmas tree

As is virtually a tradition, the fourth quarter of the year was the most successful for Apple, thanks in part due to ability of Apple's devices to make eyes light up with joy below the Christmas tree. The Californian manufacturer is building on its successes from 2019 and 2020, this time round securing five of the top 10 positions in the Highflyer Charts. These highflyers include the most promising newcomers this quarter from every product category on the ITscope platform. While certain products often occupy the same places for several quarters or years in the individual product category rankings, only new products are represented in the Highflyer Charts.

This is also the case with the new 10.2-inch iPad: having been listed on ITscope since mid-September, Apple's new tablet scored first place in the Highflyer Charts with over 6,000 clicks. The 9th generation of the iPad has several improvements and not only has a high working speed and very long battery life, but also finally has a sufficiently large storage capacity - in contrast to its predecessor. On ITscope, the iPad is currently available for a Wholesale Selling Price (WSP) of around €330.

Continuing with Apple: as already suspected in the last market barometer, the iPhone 13 series is taking off and managed to secure second place with the Pro variant (256 GB), in the Graphite colour version. More than 2,200 clicks went to this new smartphone star, which impresses with top scores in reviews: performance, display, battery life, camera - all great. The iPhone 13 Pro therefore also deservedly took a strong 3rd place in the smartphone category itself.

The manufacturer with the half-bitten apple logo also took 4th place of the Highflyer Charts - with the AirPods Pro. These in-ear headphones impress with clear sound, accurate playback and a first-class noise cancelling function that even surpasses many over-ear headphones. One of the only drawbacks seems to be the battery life: at less than 6 hours, it's certainly only average in comparison. AirPods Pro are available on ITscope for just under €200.

6th place goes to Lenovo with the ThinkCentre M70q Gen 2 11MY system - a potential candidate for the top of the PC systems category? Currently, the ThinkCentre M70q 11DT is in the lead, but the M70q Gen 2 11 MY is catching up nicely and, with over 1,200 clicks, also landed 6th place in the PC systems category. The compact desktop PC is barely bigger than a paperback book and can be placed even on the smallest of desks. At the same time, it offers absolutely sufficient performance for everyday tasks and can be flexibly expanded if higher performance is needed.

In 7th place, the Apple Watch Series 7 is also one of the Christmas favourites: ease-of-use, a 20 percent larger display (compared to Series 6) and a high level of wearing comfort are the Watch's distinguishing features. Siri and Apple Pay can also be used with the device, although WhatsApp and TikTok are missing from the App Store for the watch. Another negative point - at least for Android users - is that the Apple Watch can still only be used with an iPhone.

Here are the most active 30 new releases with hot-seller potential - our Highflyer Charts:

TFTs: no changes in sight

Not much has changed in the TFT monitor category, with Dell's P2419H comfortably leading this category for another quarter - and is showing no signs of slowing down in terms of click numbers either: almost 9,700 clicks can be attributed to the long-running champion of TFTs.

With six places in the top 10, including second place with the P2422H (almost 6,000 clicks), and third place with the P2719H (3,560 clicks), Dell is also ahead overall. There are scarcely any newcomers or notable fast climbers among the monitors at the moment.

Smartphones: iPhone 13 series takes off

With an insane 21,117 clicks, 1st place once again goes to the iPhone SE, which is now the number 1 smartphone for a whole year in a row. The previous number 2, the iPhone 12, slipped down two places, as two newer models pushed their way into the top 10. The Galaxy A52s in 2nd place is the updated 5G-capable version of Samsung's best-selling A52, with a fast working speed, good camera and a classy, matt plastic casing.

Jumping from 128th directly into 3rd place, the successful iPhone 13 Pro is the top newcomer to the iPhone family. Having only been listed since September 2021, it not only excels in the smartphone category, but also in the Highflyer Charts as well. Other versions from the iPhone 13 series are also represented in the charts, such as the iPhone 13 Pro Max in 6th place, the iPhone 13 in 7th place and the iPhone 13 mini in 18th place.

A brand new candidate landed directly in 17th place - the Google Pixel 6. In a recent review, this smartphone impressed with strong graphics performance, robust yet high-quality design and a very good camera. The Pixel 6 is the first Google smartphone to feature Google tensor: a system-on-a-chip (SoC) that enables new features based on machine learning. These include, for example, particularly precise automatic speech recognition or a live translation function in chat apps.

Tablets: replacement for the Surface Pro 7

A new champion in the tablet category: after more than a year, the Microsoft Surface Pro 7 has to give way to its successor, the Surface Pro 7+, which scored 7,337 clicks. The Pro 7+ can be used both as a tablet and, with the matching keyboard, as a convertible laptop. It comes with a high-quality finish and a brilliant, bright display. At a WSP of around €1,185, it is definitely one of the higher-end tablets - if your use-case is primarily the PC functionality, you would be better off with just getting a powerful notebook that will probably also be much cheaper.

Samsung is actually the leading manufacturer in the top 10 with four places occupied - but the gap is only very small, and the competition from Microsoft and Apple is close on Samsung's heels with three places each. This includes the latest 10.2-inch iPad model, which not only scores well in the Highflyer Charts, but also almost leaped to the very top of the category ranking - from 105th place directly into 2nd.

There is also a newcomer, the Microsoft Surface Go 3, in 36th place. The Go 3's Full HD display and great battery life are rated particularly positively. However, there are hardly any other changes worth mentioning compared to the predecessor - except for the new CPU: Microsoft has used the Intel Core i3-10100Y, a dual-core CPU with Amber Lake architecture. This processor offers a base clock frequency of 1,300 MHz, which can be accelerated up to 3,900 MHz using Turbo Boost for a short amount of time. This performance is perfect for everyday office work, but the Surface Go 3 reaches its limits when complex image or video editing is required. This tablet is currently available from ITscope for around €610.

Notebooks: Acer storms into the notebook top 10

Number 1 again at last: with the ThinkPad E15 20RE, Lenovo has regained the lead with 6,277 clicks. And things are looking good for Lenovo's other products, too, as three more places in the notebook top 10 went to the Chinese manufacturer. Dell, on the other hand, which held first place in the previous quarter, is nowhere to be found in the top 10.

Acer, a manufacturer that has only rarely been represented in the top 10 so far, took 2nd place in our notebook charts. With the TravelMate Spin B3 and 4,870 clicks, Acer secures a top position: according to the manufacturer, the TravelMate Spin B3 was designed especially for school students and therefore for meeting the demands of everyday school life. Thanks to a flip design, the convertible PC can be used in four modes (folding, display, tent and tablet mode), making it particularly flexible. The 11.6-inch Full HD display is well lit and the TravelMate Spin B3 also offers a touch function, two cameras and a matching pen. Although the performance is not exactly dazzling, there shouldn't be any complaints due to the very reasonable WSP of just under €320.

PC systems: Lenovo's ThinkCentre M70q 11DT proves itself

With over 25,000 clicks for the top 10 products, the category of PC systems can be pleased with a very good result this Christmas quarter - even if they are rarely bought as gifts. Almost 10,000 of these clicks went to the Lenovo ThinkCentre M70q 11DT in first place, which was able to defend its position once again. Lenovo is also excelling in general in this product category, with five of the top 10 places going to the Chinese manufacturer.

With the ThinkCentre M70q Gen 2 11MY, a brand new member of the ThinkCentre family makes it to the top - from 780th place directly into 6th place. With this impressive result, it also lands directly in our Highflyer Charts.

Dell also managed a big leap from 170th to 3rd place with the OptiPlex 3080 Micro. In the past, the Texas-based manufacturer was usually less represented in the ranking of PC systems. But this could change with the OptiPlex 3080 - in 9th place, the OptiPlex 3080 is once again included in a slightly different version.

Mainboards: Gigabyte's newcomers on the road to success

The Z690 UD Intel Mainboard catapulted straight from zero into second place: Gigabyte's new mainboard, which has only been listed on ITscope since the end of October, made an impressive debut. It also landed in 11th place of our Highflyer Charts - unfortunately, it is not enough for a higher ranking, as its 800 clicks are a relatively small number compared to the click numbers that tablets, smartphones and notebooks often receive. The MPG X570 GAMING PRO CARBON from MSI also made a big leap from 40th place into first place.

And 4th-placed mainboard has also come a long way: after 245th place in the previous quarter, the H410M S2H V3 from Gigabyte has now snatched this top position, meaning that three of the top 10 places go to the Taiwanese manufacturer.

Processors: do Intel's Alder Lake CPUs have a shot at making it big?

Intel and AMD are still tied with five places each in the top 10 - but AMD continues to score first and second place: first goes to the Ryzen 7 5800X and second to the Ryzen 5 5600X.

Things are also going well for the Intel Core i9-12900K in 12th place, as well as for the Intel Core i7-12700K in 14th place, both of which have done very well since first listing in August 2021. Together with the third in this bunch, the i5-12600K in 34th place, these are gaming processors based on Intel's new Alder Lake hybrid architecture. Until now, Intel has relied on a homogeneous design for its processors, but with Alder Lake it is now switching to a heterogeneous design, which is referred to as hybrid technology. This approach, however, is not new; it has already been deployed in the smartphone segment for years as a 'big.Little' implementation.

Why the change? In heterogeneous design, the ratio of PPA factors (performance, power, area) is a deciding factor: they determine how much area and energy are available for certain speeds and production costs. With the aim of keeping production costs as low as possible, Intel is striving to limit CPUs to the range of 150 mm² to 200 mm². In order to accommodate as much performance as possible, the Alder Lake architecture comes into play: instead of big.Little as in smartphones, Intel introduced Performance/Efficient-Cores, P- and E-Cores for short. The P-Cores are based on the Golden Cove architecture, support Hyperthreading (SMT) and are claimed to be 19 percent faster per clock than the Cypress Cove architecture in Rocket Lake. The E-Cores, on the other hand, are based on Gracemont architecture, with an IPC similar to the Skylake implementation.

For Intel, Alder Lake is the beginning of a new CPU era. In addition to the new hybrid architecture, the processors will be manufactured for the first time with Intel 7 (once named '10 nm Enhanced Super Fin' or '10+++ nm'). Furthermore, Alder Lake supports the new DDR5 memory standard and is also the first desktop chip to support PCIe Gen5. All three CPUs in the series use 10 nm technology, the i5-12600K has 6 P- and 4 E-Cores, the i7-12700K has 8 P- and 4 E-Cores and the i9-12900K even has 8 P- and 8 E-Cores. All three also offer an integrated graphics unit based on the Intel Iris XE architecture.

These three new processors are very well suited not just for gaming, but also for working, and are significantly better than their predecessors in terms of efficiency. The i7-12700K in particular offers an optimal price-performance ratio for a WSP of around €380, while the i9-12900K costs a bit more at €560.

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