Who says the Mac's dead?

Low-cost Macs fuel Apple's blockbuster quarter.

Author

Leander Kahney
August 01, 2025

Apple’s been doing a great job making killer entry-level products at very reasonable price points of late. Especially when it comes to the Mac lineup.

Take the new Mac mini and MacBook Air, for example. Performance-wise, these two machines are no slouches. Plus, both boast amazing industrial design and premium build materials. And yet you can snag the former for less than $600 and the latter for less than $1,000. And frequent sales make them even more affordable.

Apple is famous for the so-called Apple tax — charging a premium for premium products. But I don’t think the company has ever offered better value in its entire 49-year history.

These are great machines — not gimped in any way — sold at very reasonable prices. (And the same holds true for the entry-level iPad, iPhone 16e, Apple Watch SE, AirPods 4, etc.)

Consumers are obviously noticing. The new machines helped Apple deliver its best-ever spring quarter, with the Mac segment seeing double-digit growth.

Apple’s latest quarterly results were a nice surprise. Most people expected doom and gloom, thanks to tariffs and consumer uncertainty. Unfortunately, it looks like those factors may come into play this quarter.

Also in today’s newsletter:

  • Everyone in Silicon Valley is pouring money into AI, including Apple, which is lagging in the space. While discussing its latest quarterly results, Apple execs revealed the company has a solution: throwing money at the problem.

  • For some reason, I’m seeing AirPods Max everywhere here in San Francisco. They seem to be the hot headphones right now, despite rarely going on sale.

  • If you have an old Mac lying around — and who doesn’t? — here are six great things to do with it. No. 2 will blow your mind! And I highly recommend it: Plex is great.

  • Apple continues to expand its retail presence in India, its next big growth market.

  • Today’s featured setup focuses on a new low-profile mechanical keyboard from NuPhy that looks great. I had no idea you could get such a thing.

— Leander Kahney, EIC

Apple shatters expectations with 10% revenue surge

Apple’s spring quarter financial results feature revenue and profits that jumped double digits. And iPhone passed the 3 billion mark!

Apple pours money into AI research and acquisitions

Apple has an AI problem, and it’s hoping to solve it in the traditional manner: by pouring money on it. Result? Apple’s AI costs are going up.

US tariffs could knock $1.1 billion off Apple quarterly profits

Tariffs imposed by Trump on Apple products imported into the United States might cost the company $1.1 billion in the current quarter.

A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team

Save $100 on AirPods Max while you can

Here's your chance to get a wicked deal on AirPods Max with USB-C, Apple's noise-canceling over-ear headphones.

Verizon ending free Apple Arcade perk for older 5G plans

Verizon will stop its free Apple Arcade and Google Play Pass perks for subscribers on its older 5G plans starting in late September.

New Apple retail stores coming to India and UAE in 2025

Apple will open its third official store in India, alongside a new retail location in Al Ain, later this year.

A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team

Discount code: Customize your Mac to the max with MacPilot

Save on MacPilot, awesome software that lets you easily customize your Mac, offering all sorts of tweaks for just $29.97 (regularly $99).

Jason Momoa races to unite Hawaii against invaders in ‘Chief of War’ [Now streaming!]

Jason Momoa leads Hawaiian warriors against the forces of Western colonization in the new Apple TV+ series.

6 cool things you can do with an old Mac

Here are the six best things you can do to bring an aging Apple computer out of retirement.

Today in Apple history: Macintosh SE gets supersized storage

On August 1, 1989, Apple introduced the Mac SE FDHD, which came with a versatile new SuperDrive capable of storing a massive 1.4MB of data.

Mac mini user loves NuPhy's new low-profile mechanical keyboard [Setups]

Today's featured Mac mini setup user loves his new NuPhy Air75 v3 low-profile mechanical keyboard. And that's not his only new gear.

Tweets of the day

Wallpaper of the day

One more thing ...

❝

At the time we started Apple, Woz was working for Hewlett-Packard, I was working for Atari.... And we went to Atari and showed him our early prototypes and we went to HP.… We got turned down in both places, probably for good reasons.

— Steve Jobs, 1990.

Today’s poll

What do you tend to do with an old Mac?

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Results from yesterday’s poll: Interested in bricking your AirPods?

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