Apple shipped more Macs in the first three months of 2026 than it has in any quarter going back years. And its share of the world PC market reached a milestone, too.
It’s surely no coincidence this occurred in the quarter the the MacBook Neo launched — Apple’s first entry-level notebook is a huge hit.
Mac shipments keep climbing as Apple’s momentum continues
Mac shipments hit a peak back during the COVID-19 days that the company has yet to beat. Millions of people working from home to avoid a global pandemic brought a rise in sales that isn’t easy to match.
But Apple is getting close. The company shipped 7.1 million Macs in the first three months of 2026, according to data released Thursday by the analysts at Omdia. That’s more than the company has shipped in any previous quarter since at least 2024. The total is up 5.4% over the same quarter last year, and a whopping 32.7% more than Q1 2024.
Plus, Apple’s share of the global PC market is on the rise. It hit 11%, in the January-through-March period, the highest since at least 2024.
Chart: Omdia/Cult of Mac
A heck of a quarter for Apple
An increase in Mac sales in Q1 2026 shouldn’t surprise anyone — Apple released a slew of new macOS notebook upgrades.
And that includes the MacBook Neo, the company’s first-ever budget-priced model. It’s selling extremely well and added considerably to the total number of Macs shipped last quarter.
In addition, Apple introduced a version of the MacBook Air with the M5 processor, as well as M5 Pro and M5 Max versions of the MacBook Pro.
Given how well the MacBook Neo is selling, it’s likely Q2 will be another strong one for Apple. As long as it can continue to produce the low-cost notebook, of course.
Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 25 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh SE/30 (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer.
That’s because he’s a “tablet first” type of guy. Rather than use a Macbook, he connects a keyboard case to the iPad. And instead of a desktop Mac, he connects his tablet to a 27-inch display and full-size keyboard. (So don’t try to tell him that everyone has to use a Mac to be productive.)
Before coming to Cult of Mac, Ed wrote for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview and Brighthand, as well as other sites.
