Apple’s Mac sales have surprised even its own executives, with a 6% year-on-year increase in the second quarter. The tech giant chalked up some of the growth to recent product launches like the MacBook Neo, which saw higher-than-expected demand and became the top-selling desktop in China.

The real shocker? Apple’s Mac mini and Mac Studio devices sold out quickly, driven by a growing need for local AI applications. CEO Tim Cook admitted that the company was caught off guard by this surge in demand, saying, “We saw higher than expected demand because of customer recognition of these platforms being amazing for AI.”

This unexpected boom in Mac sales highlights how AI is reshaping computing habits, but it may take months to meet the current demand. Cook noted that Apple might need several months to balance supply and demand on these models.

Apple isn’t just a passive observer in this AI revolution; large companies like Perplexity are turning to Macs for building enterprise-grade AI assistants. As for schools, some have even switched from Chromebooks to the MacBook Neo, showing a significant shift towards Apple’s hardware.