Apple has just announced its Q2 business results with many familiar bright spots such as iPhone and services, but the biggest surprise comes from the Mac segment.
This is a field that has long been not the growth pillar of the company. Mac's breakthrough is said to be associated with the wave of artificial intelligence (AI) applications spreading globally.
According to the report, Mac's revenue reached $8.4 billion in the quarter ending March 28, far exceeding Wall Street analysts' forecast of about $8 billion.
Not only that, Mac sales also increased by 6% compared to the same period last year, contrary to nearly flat expectations before. Total revenue of the whole company reached 111.2 billion USD, up 17%, a result showing that Apple still maintains stable growth momentum.
Part of the motivation comes from new products, especially the MacBook Neo, which is a newly launched line that has quickly attracted user attention.
Although only opened for sale from the beginning of March and delivered in the last few weeks of the quarter, Neo still recorded purchasing power exceeding expectations, even falling into a state of out-of-stock in some configurations.
Apple said high demand caused part of the orders to be pushed to April.
CEO Tim Cook admitted that market interest in the MacBook Neo has far exceeded expectations. He also said Apple has set a record for the number of new users switching to Macs this quarter, in which Neo plays an important role.
Notably, Apple believes that the Mac sales boom is directly related to the need to run local AI models. Platforms like OpenClaw are pushing users to find high-performance and well-optimized devices, causing lines like Mac mini and Mac Studio to sell out quickly.
According to Tim Cook, customers are realizing Mac's potential in the field of AI faster than the company's predictions.
In China, Mac mini even became the best-selling desktop computer, thanks to the popularity of domestic AI applications. In addition, demand from the business sector also increased sharply as many technology companies chose Mac as the foundation for developing AI assistants.
Some big names like Perplexity have prioritized using Macs in their ecosystem.
However, the picture is not entirely rosy. Despite year-on-year growth, Mac revenue has hardly changed compared to the previous quarter, showing that the new wave of demand is still not large enough to create a clear leap forward.
In addition, Apple is facing supply restrictions, especially with MacBook Neo, Mac mini and Mac Studio.
Tim Cook admitted that the company underestimated the actual demand and it could take several months to rebalance supply and demand.
Product shortages have also affected large orders, including the education sector, where some school systems began to shift from Chromebooks to Macs.
The rise of Mac in the AI era shows that Apple has more new growth momentum besides iPhone.
However, to take advantage of this opportunity, the company will need to quickly solve the supply problem and maintain a competitive advantage in the increasingly fierce technology race.
