Who Buys a Mac Mini?!

A couple of weeks ago Mart Gurman at Bloomberg reported Apple plans significant upgrades to the Mac mini personal computer. It will include the fastest M4 chip and a new, even smaller form factor. As always, it will not include a display, keyboard, or mouse.

We’ve long wondered why Apple continues to make this thing. Apple introduced the Mac mini in 2005, before iPhone and iPad, when Apple competed hard against Windows/Intel PCs. Mac mini allowed PC users to try an Apple computer without buying a new display, keyboard, or mouse. At that time, PC manufacturers included those peripherals in the box with the computer, and buying them separately cost much more than it does today. An Apple-curious PC owner could just plug their existing input/output accessories into the Mac mini and join the Apple community.

Almost twenty years later, Apple continues to produce and even upgrade Mac mini. The base model costs $599, much less than other Apple desktops and competitive with Windows-based PCs. Apple continues to promote it as an easy point of entry to the Apple operating system.

It remains a slow seller compared to other models, however, with under 1% of total Mac sales. What do we know about this tiny group of customers?

As it turns out, the very youngest and oldest buy Mac mini more. Due to the very small share of total Mac sales, we need to look at several years of data. Thus, we analyzed all twelve years of available data on Apple consumer behavior, dating to the first CIRP surveys in 2012.

Overall, 41% of Mac mini buyers are under 24 years old or over 65 years old (Chart 1). This differs significantly compared to all other Mac desktop computer buyers (iMac, iMac Pro, and Mac Pro), where the youngest and oldest together represent only 25% of all buyers.