San Francisco. Apple is now giving a different offer to corporate buyers. The company is saying that its new desktop computers will be cheaper than renting a data center. The upgraded Mac Mini and Mac Studio, which started shipping from Tuesday, have been specially designed by Apple for local AI tasks. From writing code to complex business tasks can be completed without cloud.
These machines cost up to $20,000, but Apple’s emphasis is on the fact that once purchased, no ‘token’ charge has to be paid. There is no need to spend money every time on cloud services like OpenAI or Anthropic. The company claims that these machines can run from a wall socket and can work as powerful as a data center.
At a recent launch event, Apple demonstrated running an AI model with one trillion parameters by connecting four Mac studios together. It found and fixed the graphics coding bug. Usually such work is done in the data center, but Apple did it on the desktop. Johnny Sarouji, Apple’s Chief Hardware Officer, said, once the machine comes to your desk, you paid for it. Now use again and again, no token cost. We offer great value in both performance and price.
Big opportunity and challenge too
This is both a big opportunity and a big challenge for Apple. According to IDC data, Apple’s share in the enterprise desktop market is only 4.6 percent, while Windows’s is 91.3 percent. Microsoft has been ruling this segment for years. Microsoft’s Windows event is scheduled to be held in San Francisco next month, where the focus will be on new desktop machines from Nvidia and other PC makers.
Apple is betting on its old strength power saving. When Apple launched its silicon chip in 2020, it combined computing and memory. This improved battery life and as a side effect, AI performance also became stronger. Now the same architecture is being used in desktop.
Talking about unmutated intelligence
Microsoft is also talking about ‘unmuted intelligence’ i.e. on-device AI. CEO Satya Nadella has said that the company is going to integrate many of its AI features into the Super App of Windows. But Windows has to support many different hardware, whereas Apple’s entire ecosystem is the same. Nvidia is still focused on the data center. Jensen Huang clearly said that he does not want to compete directly with Apple, but wants to increase the capabilities of Windows PC.
Apple’s plan is clear. The AI model that will be developed on its device can be scaled from cheap iPhone-iPad to expensive Mac Studio. Because everyone’s chips are built on the same principle. Sarouji says, “You can pump as much power as you want into the data center. We are providing products according to different needs. The customer himself decides which computer he wants. Apple is now trying to bridge its old weakness in the enterprise market with the power of AI. The question is, will corporate buyers really leave the data center and trust the Mac?
