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.

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.