Simply put: Apple Silicon effectively optimized to drive native AI models. The data is clear: people care. Mac Studios widely sold and Mac minis cannot be found. There are various reasons for this – such as OpenClaw and other computer exploit agents. But there is also a group of people who buy high-end Macs with integrated memory that are incredible for running local LLMs.
While I’m sure Apple appreciates additional hardware sales, I think they could take it even further by entering a segment they’ve largely ignored to date.
Apple can become a server provider
Apple has flirted with the idea of selling servers in the form of Xserve for a while. There was also a variant of the 2019 Mac Pro can fit into a server rack. It’s gone now – without a direct replacement.
I think now more than ever there’s a good reason to want macOS as a server – and that’s because of AI. People want to have agents that can access Apple services and Mac applications without using their own computers. That’s why many people buy Mac mini to use as headless, always-on devices.
I’m not sure how likely this is, but if this trend continues, it could be plausible to see Apple get into the server business, similar to how providers like AWS operate. Customers can pay Apple monthly to access macOS and Apple Silicon in the cloud.
Apple already has some infrastructure for this Private Cloud Computing. Basically these servers still little usedUntil Apple rolled out its Gemini-tuned Apple Intelligence models.
Either way, Apple could potentially expand further. There’s no denying that it’s profitable – more than half of Amazon’s revenue comes from AWS, not from shopping.
Wrap it up
Apple is already a huge company and iPhone sales are showing no signs of slowing down. In the world of artificial intelligence, if Apple wanted to develop a new part of its business, I think that renting computing on Apple Silicon servers running macOS could be a new hit. It would certainly save some people from having to buy all of these Mac Studios with a high amount of unit memory.
Sure, you can sell people on a $4,000 computer one time, or make them over $200 a month for as long as they need cloud computing.
Apple CEO Tim Cook is likely to step down sometime in the near futureI could easily see Apple implementing this idea under new management. Especially since then John Ternus has a hardware background.
My favorite Apple accessory recommendations:
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