Apple @ Work: What IDC’s latest shipments mean for the MacBook Neo and Air in the enterprise should be explained through that lens before any broad claim is made. Apple @ Work is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle , the only Apple Unified Platform. Enterprise computer buying is currently going through an incredibly strange economic cycle. The piece keeps the context, impact, and follow-up signals in view so readers do not stop at the headline.
What happened
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Practical impact for readers
Enterprise computer buying is currently going through an incredibly strange economic cycle. New PC shipment numbers from IDC show a divide across global deployment trends. On the one hand, actual device shipments are down nearly 5% across the industry. On the other side, overall manufacturer revenues are growing because prices are increasing across the board. Component shortages, driven largely by AI data centers (on top of worldwide government deficit spending), are consuming global memory allocations and resulting in major price increases across the industry. Yet, on top of this widespread industry downturn in shipments, Apple stands alone as the only major computer manufacturer posting shipment growth.
Details worth verifying
About Apple @ Work: Bradley Chambers has been an Apple IT admin since 2009. Through his experience deploying and managing firewalls, switches, a mobile device management system, enterprise grade WiFi, 1000s of Macs, and 1000s of iPads, Bradley will highlight ways in which Apple IT managers deploy Apple devices, build networks to support them, train users, share stories from the trenches of IT management, and ways Apple could improve its products for IT departments.
Who should act or wait
“The real story here is the disconnect between units and dollars: shipments are falling, but revenue is climbing because vendors are pushing through price increases faster than demand is dropping,” said Jitesh Ubrani , research director for consumer devices at IDC. “Given worsening macro conditions and a memory shortage that isn’t expected to ease until early 2028, we don’t expect another round of inventory pull-forward, which points to a sharp slowdown in growth rates in the second half of 2026. Vendors are bracing for further price hikes into 2027, and channels are already flagging concern about elevated inventory at these higher price points.
What is still unclear
While enterprise vendors like HP, Dell, and Lenovo all experienced negative unit growth last quarter, Apple pulled a 10% spike in shipments. A quick glance at the market might lead you to believe this growth is only attributable to the MacBook Neo, but it’s more nuanced than that. In my opinion, Tim Cook’s greatest contribution to Apple is how well ran its supply chains are. Apple was one of the last manufacturers to raise its prices. Yes, the Neo is playing its part , but it’s definitely more than that.
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