The new MacBook Pro could help Apple preserve an impressive streak

The PC isn't dead - but it sure is shrinking. Though the traditional laptop (or desktop) is still seen as the best way to get Real Work done, it's undeniable that people are buying at slower rates than usual. According to recent data from analyst firm Gartner, the PC industry as a whole has suffered sales declines for eight straight quarters.

To be clear, this hasn't been good for any company in the PC business. But for the biggest tech company in the world, Apple, the dip hasn't been as severe as the rest of the market. As this chart from Statista shows, Apple has only had one year (2012) since 2007 where it sold fewer PCs than it did the year prior.

Now, there are a few big caveats to note here. The first, as you can see, is that those yearly gains have shrunk massively as time has rolled on. Second, just because Mac sales haven't dipped every year doesn't mean it's beating Windows - much like Android and the iPhone, Macs only make up a small percentage of the overall PC market.

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Finally, this chart ends at 2015. If the quarterly returns from this year are any indication, Apple will have a hard time keeping this streak up - Gartner and others have reported big drops in Mac shipments for the past couple of quarters.

That said, a big reason for those sales drops, according to analysts, is that Mac buyers were waiting for new notebooks. With the new line of MacBook Pros, that overhauled hardware has arrived. Apple marketing boss Phil Schiller has already said that orders for the devices have been great. Whether or not that's enough hunger to bring Apple back above the industry average, though? We'll soon see.

Statista