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> Macs were only 8% of Apple's 2025 revenue.

If the Mac were its own standalone business, it would rank at no. 134 on the Fortune 500 with $33.7 billion in revenue. Also, that's a 12% increase in revenue compared to 2024.

If anything, AI has brought more attention to the Mac. Just about every major AI app is released for the Mac first. I've seen complaints about it on HN.

The latest is Claude Cowork. It was released for macOS on January 12th; it didn't ship for Windows until February 10th; it's still not available for Windows running on ARM.

It's been nearly a year since Dia launched [1], the first AI browser, and it's still not available for Windows.

We just had the frenzy over OpenClaw [2] with AI enthusiasts lining up at Apple Stores to buy a Mac mini just to run it!

The most popular AI channels on YouTube are almost exclusively using Macs. Apple seems to have enough runway until they get their act together.

[1]: https://browsercompany.substack.com/p/letter-to-arc-members-...

[2]: https://builder.aws.com/content/399VbZq9tzAYguWfAHMtHBD6x8H/...

Outside US, most people that buy Macs do so because they are developers targeting iDevices, or can afford Apple and want the ecosystem that comes with their iDevice.

An independent Mac business that doesn't have such tie-ins, would sell much less.

Where you live, maybe. It really depends on the country even outside the US. A lot of it is, to this day, because of things like Final Cut and Logic. Either because they dabble in it as a hobby or professionally.

A lot of the recent growth is developers in general, there's really been a huge shift there. 2010 developers using Macs vs 2026 developers using Macs, if you look at personal devices or workplaces that give them a choice. Biggest driver being Apple Silicon.

I live in one of those 70% market share Windows world region, where Apple gear is taken from a devices pool when required for project delivery, or bundled with cable TV subscriptions with credit payment scattered across several years.

> An independent Mac business that doesn't have such tie-ins, would sell much less.

For businesses and pro users, it isn't the Apple ecosystem that's the main driver.

Since Apple silicon a lot of laptops are just so far behind in battery life, speed and usability that you wouldn't get it. Often Apple ecosystem was a net negative since most things worked better on Windows but that has shifted.

Until the Apple tax goes away, most folks will put up with Windows flaws, unless Apple changes their pricing policy for countries that cannot afford G8 level salaries.

There is no Apple tax, but there is a price to be paid for the performance, battery life and integration of the Apple ecosystem.

Okay, so to rephrase their comment, the majority of the consumer PC audience will not invest in those things at the price Apple demands for it.

> the majority of the consumer PC audience will not invest in those things at the price Apple demands for it

Who? As in you?

But Apple is gaining market share. Apple is cheaper for what it offers in hardware ignoring the Apple ecosystem.

Are we up to date? The Apple tax is old news. With all the ram and ssd price hikes Apple is proving even more value.

> Who? As in you?

No, as in the entire PC market for the past two decades: https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/desktop/worldwide...

> Apple is cheaper for what it offers in hardware ignoring the Apple ecosystem.

Then it sounds like their work is cut out for them. They've got a lot of market share to catch up on, and they're not gaining very quickly.

Makes me glad for businesses like Nvidia, who are very willing to ship industry-grade ARM hardware even if Apple won't.

> No, as in the entire PC market for the past two decades

Is this why AI is winning? People aren't doing better. You pick a random stat and somehow make it support what you're arguing.

The link says DESKTOP. I said LAPTOP. Laptop after M1. Why are we going back 2 decades? They have >15% registered as unknown. Sure, "accurate". Cough cough. It doesn't differentiate new or old and IF (the original discussion) that Apple is gaining market share and NEW sales.

> and they're not gaining very quickly

This is just as bad as speculative stock trading e.g. with software stocks. They're losing to AI. Oh no. Dump. Oh they're actually not too bad. Buy it back. Apple doesn't have AI. Sell. Apple doesn't have AI. Buy. Are you ok?

Laptops are desktops in 2026, and without needing Apple style dongles to make out of missing ports, yet another Apple "improvement" in expensive hardware.

And all those Radar bugs, those are priceless.

The Apple tax are the hedious margins Apple imposes into their customers.

> Siri sucks so hard that people switch away

I don’t think people choose iPhone for the Siri.

> my colleague can use their Pixel phone to record a work meeting

I think lots of startups are tackling this in this space. Hardly a native feature. Attainable an app install away

Tried an android phone given by my company. Gemini is at your fingertips, with a single button press. That’s INCREDIBLE! [everything Siri never delivered]. Put that into a headphone or headphone-enabled glasses. Plus a ring. And the need for an advanced UI-based phone fades away for many usages.

Isn't this just Facebook's Ray-Bans in a nutshell?

Facebook is lacking access to the interesting data. If you are in the Google ecosystem then your private and business life is likely already there.

I have a Pixel besides my iPhone (for reasons). When I got a Pixel 9 about a year ago, my feeling was the same (Gemini as at your fingertips. INCREDIBLE!). A few months later after the novelty wore off, I just found the push of AI everywhere in Pixel OS and Google apps just annoying. I now use GrapheneOS on my Pixel. One of the many reasons is that it does not try to push AI anywhere.

Now I just have a single LLM (Le Chat) isolated in its own little app sandbox, never getting in my face unless I choose to open it myself.

I’m not sure how to say it without sounding like an Apple fanboy, but Tim Cook has been the CEO for the past 15 years. Every single year people have been whining how “he’s not visionary and etc.”, but at some point you have to give him some credit. Apple of 2026 has completely different landscape versus apple of 2010/earlier. Scaling from millions to billions of sales is incredibly hard, and he’s been able to accomplish it.

Would you feel the same if in 2030, all the actions you describe, work most of the time but still produce questionable output requiring time to verify and fact check due to the probabilistic nature of the LLM engine? This is unsolvable with LLMs. I don't want an embedded or agentic AI but do give me the option to pick a model of my choice and accept the risks when I want to. I don't want tainted generated summaries, replies or code in certain critical areas.

> I have an iPhone 16 and I'm locked in because of all my photos being on my iCloud subscriptio

Ever heard of the Data Transfer Project? https://support.google.com/photos/answer/10502587?sjid=95203...

I get your general point but specifically regarding :

> have it diarized, send out minutes, grab relevant info and surface it before the next relevant meeting

Slack already has this integrated and it works quite well.

Also, since AI will mean most are just let go, why would they need meeting minutes? AI would be so crucial as to be the make or break phone/laptop feature, but people would still have meetings?

At best they will use it to tell them for special offers that they can buy with food coupons.

How about using a 3rd party app? Gemini and chatgpt apps can already do a lot!

If my colleagues phone can do all that, great - I don’t need mine to.