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Apple says users are snapping up Macs faster than ever and created a supply shortage

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Apple MacBook Neo with users hands on it
Apple

Apple has a good problem on its hands: it simply cannot make enough Macs. On its fiscal Q2 2026 earnings call, CEO Tim Cook confirmed that demand for the Mac lineup has outpaced what the company can supply — and honestly, that’s not a sentence you’d have expected to write a few years ago when Mac growth was chugging along in iPhone’s shadow.

The culprits are interesting. The Mac Mini and Mac Studio are flying off the shelves, and Cook attributes a big chunk of that to people waking up to how capable Apple Silicon is for running AI tools and agentic workflows locally. That’s a trend the company apparently didn’t fully see coming. When your own CEO admits you “undercalled the demand,” that’s a genuine surprise.

The MacBook Neo effect is real

The MacBook Neo, Apple’s newer, more affordable laptop, has been blowing expectations out of the water. Schools are ditching Chromebooks for it, and first-time Mac buyers are coming in droves. The March quarter set a record for new Mac customers, which is exactly the kind of metric Apple has been chasing for years in a category that, let’s be honest, often felt like preaching to the converted.

Computer, Electronics, Laptop
Nadeem Sarwar / DigitalTrends

Mac revenue hit $8.4 billion for the quarter, up 6% year-over-year despite the supply crunch — which means the real number, unconstrained, would have been even better. Cook warned that the Mini and Studio in particular could take several months to reach supply-demand balance. That’s not a one-quarter blip.

This isn’t just a sales spike

What makes this moment notable is the shift in how people are buying Macs. It’s no longer just creative professionals or developers. Enterprise teams are deploying them at scale for AI development. Public school districts are choosing them over budget Windows alternatives. Emerging markets like India are seeing double-digit Mac growth. The product is broadening its reach in a way that feels structural rather than just cyclical.

The M4 Mac mini being used in a workplace.
Apple

Apple has spent years arguing that its silicon advantage would eventually pull more people into the Mac ecosystem. It looks like that bet is finally paying off — faster than even Apple expected.

Shimul Sood
Shimul Sood
Contributor
Shimul is a contributor at Digital Trends, with over five years of experience in the tech space.
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