Apple Silicon Exec Explains Mac Mini AI Demand and On-Device Future

Re:Apple Silicon Exec Explains Mac Mini AI Demand and On-Dev... by bigyabai on Friday July 10, 2026 @01:01PM (#48862515)

It's really not. Apple's phone margins have been as high as 30-40% per-unit, it's likely that they make at least ~$80-150 per Macbook Neo sold.

At the $150 mark (which is probably accurate factoring in lifetime service spend), that's a $10,000 minimum return on the 64x Macbook Neos. Apple can charge that type of premium on consumer hardware, but they're in no position to command $10,000 margins on professional hardware. They're not Nvidia, Apple has always been LARPing as an HPC vendor.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Apple Silicon Exec Explains Mac Mini AI Demand and On-Dev... by gizajob on Friday July 10, 2026 @06:23PM (#48866075)

Maybe margin was the wrong way to phrase it, but I know which customer I’d choose to have.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Apple Silicon Exec Explains Mac Mini AI Demand and On-Dev... by bigyabai on Friday July 10, 2026 @06:58PM (#48866394)

But surely you understand how your preferred customer is the less profitable one?

Apple won't subsidize these low-margin enthusiast products with the profits made from services and higher-margin hardware. Tim Cook would much rather ship the 64 Macs, and get ~15-20 school-age kids hooked on Apple One or the App Store for the rest of their life. There's understandably not much patience for catering to people that want to opt-out of the Apple Intelligence service ecosystem, effectively leeching off of more successful products. The volume and opportunity cost kills the concept in the cradle.

[ Parent | on HN ]