Mac Revenue Down 34% Year-Over-Year, But Tim Cook Expects 'Significant' Improvement With M3 Macs

Apple today shared its earnings results for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2023 (third calendar quarter), and Mac revenue saw a major drop compared to last year.

m3 macbook pro blue
Mac sales came in at $7.6 billion in Q4 2023, down 34 percent from $11.5 billion in the year-ago quarter. Mac revenue for all of 2023 was $29.4 billion, down from $40.2 billion in 2022.

Apple CFO Luca Maestri attributed the drop to challenging market conditions and challenging compares to last year's Mac lineup. Because of supply chain issues during the June 2022 quarter, Mac sales spiked in the September 2022 quarter, which did not happen this year. Apple also updated the MacBook Air in June 2023 rather than September, which impacted September quarter sales compared to last year.

Apple did release new M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max Macs in late October, but sales of those devices will be reflected in the December quarter. Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC that he expects Mac performance to improve over the holidays.

"I think the Mac is going to have a significantly better quarter in the December quarter," said Cook. "We've got the M3, we've got the new products, and we don't have the compare phenomenon on a year-over-year basis," Cook said.

Apple began allowing customers to purchase the new M3 Macs on Monday, with shipments to begin arriving next week. Apple appears to have plenty of supply of the new models, so there should be no supply constraints during the upcoming holidays.

Popular Stories

Apple Logo Zoomed

Tim Cook Teases Plans for Apple's Upcoming 50th Anniversary

Thursday February 5, 2026 12:54 pm PST by
Apple turns 50 this year, and its CEO Tim Cook has promised to celebrate the milestone. The big day falls on April 1, 2026. "I've been unusually reflective lately about Apple because we have been working on what do we do to mark this moment," Cook told employees today, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. "When you really stop and pause and think about the last 50 years, it makes your heart ...
iOS 26

iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Tuesday February 3, 2026 7:47 am PST by
While the iOS 26.3 Release Candidate is now available ahead of a public release, the first iOS 26.4 beta is likely still at least a week away. Following beta testing, iOS 26.4 will likely be released to the general public in March or April. Below, we have recapped known or rumored iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 features so far. iOS 26.3 iPhone to Android Transfer Tool iOS 26.3 makes it easier...
imac video apple feature

Apple Makes Its Second-Biggest Acquisition Ever

Tuesday February 3, 2026 12:45 pm PST by
Apple recently acquired Israeli startup Q.ai for close to $2 billion, according to Financial Times sources. That would make this Apple's second-biggest acquisition ever, after it paid $3 billion for the popular headphone maker Beats in 2014. This is also the largest known Apple acquisition since the company purchased Intel's smartphone modem business and patents for $1 billion in 2019....
wwdc sans text feature

Apple Rumored to Announce New Product on February 19

Thursday February 5, 2026 12:22 pm PST by
Apple plans to announce the iPhone 17e on Thursday, February 19, according to Macwelt, the German equivalent of Macworld. The report, citing industry sources, is available in English on Macworld. Apple announced the iPhone 16e on Wednesday, February 19 last year, so the iPhone 17e would be unveiled exactly one year later if this rumor is accurate. It is quite uncommon for Apple to unveil...
Finder Siri Feature

Why Apple's iOS 26.4 Siri Upgrade Will Be Bigger Than Originally Promised

Friday February 6, 2026 3:06 pm PST by
In the iOS 26.4 update that's coming this spring, Apple will introduce a new version of Siri that's going to overhaul how we interact with the personal assistant and what it's able to do. The iOS 26.4 version of Siri won't work like ChatGPT or Claude, but it will rely on large language models (LLMs) and has been updated from the ground up. Upgraded Architecture The next-generation...

Top Rated Comments

daneoni Avatar
30 months ago
Its also the pricing. I know inflation exists but still, these things are becoming somewhat pricey...especially when you start upgrading RAM and storage.

Entry-level pricing is meaningless when you have Macs shipping with the same amount of RAM as an iPhone...in 2023.

Its kinda telling that after the M3 updates were announced, pretty much all the M2 MBPs in the refurb store that i'd seen earlier had disappeared. Buyers likely opted for those instead.

With Apple Silicon, Mac upgrades may become similar to iPad upgrades unlike the Intel era. You buy a new one if the old one dies or is no longer getting updates. And then sell a kidney to pay for it.
Score: 56 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ralph_sws Avatar
30 months ago
Not with these RAM and SSD prices.
Score: 48 Votes (Like | Disagree)
abatabia Avatar
30 months ago
The M1 series were just too good.
Score: 44 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Tuck_ Avatar
30 months ago
I'm skeptical. The prices are very high, the upsells are aggressive and I'm not sure the value proposition is strong enough because of that.

They'll do well, obviously. But enough to stop the downtrend? Not sure about that.
Score: 42 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mazda 3s Avatar
30 months ago
I have a 14-inch base MacBook Pro with M1 Pro/16GB/512GB.

I would be inclined to upgrade, but the storage and RAM upgrades are ridiculously priced. I get it, everything is integrated on-chip, but it’s still a tough pill to swallow.

I added a 1TB Crucial PCIe 4.0 SSD to my Intel NUC media server for around $50 shipped from Amazon. Apple’s pricing for upgrades just makes my head spin.
Score: 42 Votes (Like | Disagree)
andrewxgx Avatar
30 months ago
yea, i'm sure people are lining up to buy M3 Pro downgrade
Score: 38 Votes (Like | Disagree)