Mac mini (and CIRP) Makes the Wall Street Journal
Mac mini (and CIRP) Makes the Wall Street Journal
https://cirpapple.substack.com/p/mac-mini-and-cirp-makes-the-wall
Publish Date: 2026-02-25 08:55:00
Source Domain: cirpapple.substack.com
This week the Wall Street Journal had a fascinating account of how Apple plans to bring more of its supply chain to the US. Reporter Rolfe Winkler toured several facilities – new and under construction – to research a story about the challenges of shifting production of an enormously complicated product to the US from overseas.
As part of the reporting, he learned Apple plans to build, or perhaps assemble, Mac mini computers in the US, at a new facility in Houston. His story cited some of CIRP figures about Mac computer sales, so we thought we would fill in some of the details.
We always wondered about Mac mini. We looked at it in 2024 and asked why Apple continues to even make it. Recent reporting, including from the Wall Street Journal, suggests the Mac mini has become a niche product for app developers writing for Apple products. More recently, it has found relevance in low-budget server arrays for AI uses, also.
Niche indeed. It represents a tiny slice of US Mac computer sales, about 3% in the past year (Chart 1).
