Apple was surprised by AI-driven demand for Macs

Apple’s iPhone income and Services gross were the stars of the amusement successful the tech giant’s astir caller quarter, but the Mac softly outperformed — helped by increasing request for AI workloads.

Wall Street investors had expected to spot Mac gross successful the debased $8 cardinal range, but Apple reported $8.4 cardinal successful the 2nd 4th ended March 28 — a notable bushed for a non-core conception of the tech giant’s business. In addition, investors up of net believed that Mac income would beryllium fundamentally flat year-over-year. Instead, Mac income were up 6% connected an yearly basis, the institution told investors. The company’s full gross was $111.2 billion, a 17% summation from the aforesaid play past year.

Apple chalked up immoderate of the Mac maturation to caller merchandise launches, including the well-received MacBook Neo. However, those fun, colorful computers were lone connected merchantability for a fewer weeks aft the March 4th pre-orders began. Realistically, astir units shipped mid-to-late March, and immoderate request whitethorn person been pushed into April arsenic definite models sold out.

Apple CEO Tim Cook told analysts connected the company’s Q2 net telephone connected Thursday that lawsuit request for the Neo was “off the charts” and higher than Apple had expected. He besides noted that Apple acceptable a grounds successful the 4th for customers caller to the Mac, partially owed to the Neo.

Cook attributed the Mac income maturation to the usage of the level for moving section AI models, similar OpenClaw — thing that took Apple somewhat by astonishment arsenic Mac Mini and Mac Studio devices sold retired successful caller weeks.

“Both of these are astonishing platforms for AI and agentic tools, and the lawsuit designation of that is happening faster than what we had predicted, and truthful we saw higher than expected demand,” Cook said of these Mac sales. He besides noted that the Mac Mini was top-selling desktop successful China — a marketplace that’s been successful an OpenClaw frenzy arsenic of late.

Still, Mac gross was level connected a quarter-over-quarter basis, suggesting this caller request has yet to scale. Cook said it whitethorn instrumentality Apple “several months” to scope supply-demand equilibrium connected the Mac Mini and Studio models.

“We’re not astatine the constituent wherever we’re saying this [constraint] is going to extremity anytime soon. And it’s not due to the fact that of a problem, per se, different than we conscionable under-called the demand,” Cook explained.

Enterprise request for the Mac was besides astatine play. Apple pointed to a mates of larger companies, including Perplexity, that had turned to Mac arsenic their preferred level for gathering enterprise-grade AI assistants.

He besides said Apple was “supply constrained connected the MacBook Neo,” and has adjacent seen schoolhouse systems, similar Kansas City Public Schools, dropping Chromebooks for the Neo.