Macs have always historically been high-end and Apple's marketshare has historically hovered around 10%. Apple has come to dominate the high-end computer in recent years ― specifically the high-end laptop segment; at one point attaining 90% marketshare of laptops priced over $1,000 ― but that peak has receded and Apple never did penetrate the desktop market as much (which is another important segment foe high-end computers)
On the other hand, Apple's first mobile device (the iPod) was decidedly mass market and mass produced as Apple offered products for every price and segment ending up with over 70% marketshare for ALL mp3 players.
The iPhone is an interesting inflection point. Like the iPod it started out priced at the high end but Apple didn't quickly followup with cheaper products for all segments. Why not? The reason instead is that Apple went the mobile carrier subsidy route. The iPhone is mass market, mass produced and has ~50% marketshare in USA. However in markets where carrier subsidies aren't the norm e.g Europe, Apple has less than 20% marketshare.
Guess which other major technology purchase receives subsidies/payment plans? Cars. Apple could feasibly sell 'high-end' cars on mass market contracts and still retain their margins. However car manufacturing is very hard and Apple doesn't have any leverage from their existing products to force an advantage from the car parts factories...
My first Apple laptop, a Titanium Powerbook was almost 3 times that. Hard drive, keyboard, ram, battery were all user serviceable.
My point was the company isn't what it once was, it's not a high end tech company for the few but a disposable tech company for the many.
In that sense maybe, but not in the "low quality" sense (which disposable also implies, e.g. disposable razors etc). Besides modern cars are not "user serviceable" like 70s cars for the most part either, but they are not "disposable".
>My first Apple laptop, a Titanium Powerbook was almost 3 times that.
The overall price for the high end laptops on the market dropped since the Titanium powerbook though, and modern MBPrs are still priced at the high end segment of today's prices.
You can't expect 1999 prices for a 2016 computer when the tech innovations make both low and high end products more affordable all the time.
>My point was the company isn't what it once was, it's not a high end tech company for the few but a disposable tech company for the many.
"High end tech company" does not necessitate "user serviceable".
The tech in the Mac, compared to the average laptop, is way higher, and the engineering process to build a new MacBook Pro Retina model (from the machining to the logic board, batteries, etc) is far more advanced. Hence, high end of the market.
Nor was the Mac ever "for the few" -- it was always intended as a mass market PC, for those with the money to spare, not just some tinkering propellerhead elite ("the computer for the rest of us"). Heck, they even sold cheaper models back in the day (the Mac Classic, the original iMac, etc).
They are obviously mass produced, as they are consumer electronics, not boutique items.
They still cater to the high end of the laptop/desktop market (which is not the same as the "gamer laptop" or the "high end 20-core rendering workstation" niche market).
What competition do you think they have at that?
They are if not the most, some of the most well designed, well thought out, and innovative custom solutions (from heat dissipation to machining and assembly). The parts they use are the cream of the crop of the respective yields too -- when they mass order Samsung SSDs or AMD cards or memory, they get the best production runs. They don't use the most screaming, 1000 watt, 2-fans greatest speed AMD/Nvidia cards, but for the ones they do use, and that fit the energy/power profile they want to have in their boxes, they use their mass purchasing power to get the best units.
