Apple's chief executive disclosed during a quarterly earnings call that the Philippine government had concluded a purchase of 172,654 MacBook Neo laptops by the Department of Education for public school teachers and administrative personnel nationwide.
Apple CEO Reveals the Deal First
Apple CEO John Ternus made the disclosure on November 2 during the company's earnings call in the United States — early Tuesday morning in Philippine time. "We recently secured our biggest education deal ever for Mac with the Department of Education in the Philippines," Ternus told analysts, as quoted in reports. "They're going to deploy 170,000 MacBook Neos to teachers and staff." Ternus took over as Apple chief executive on September 1, succeeding Tim Cook.
DepEd Confirms Procurement Details
DepEd announced on Tuesday, November 3, that competitive bidding for the order had been completed. According to DepEd, each unit was priced at approximately ₱43,000, with distribution set to run from November 2026 through March 2027. News reports have placed the total order value at approximately ₱7.4 billion based on the stated per-unit cost. DepEd has not publicly identified the winning bidder or reseller.
Of the total units, DepEd said 169,008 will be allocated to teachers while the remaining 3,646 will go to administrative officers.
Price, Warranty, and What's Included
DepEd noted that the ₱43,000 unit price is roughly ₱6,900 lower than the MacBook Neo's Philippine suggested retail price of ₱49,900, which the agency used as its reference figure. The procurement package includes a five-year warranty — the longest warranty period in any of DepEd's laptop purchases to date, compared with the standard one-year retail coverage.
Delivery, logistics, and professional development are also bundled into the deal, DepEd said. The agency and Apple will jointly launch GuroXL, a teacher training framework to be administered through the National Educators Academy of the Philippines, aimed at guiding teachers toward Apple Teacher certifications. Distribution will begin with cluster launches across Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao this month, according to DepEd.
Angara Cites Burden on Teachers
Education Secretary Sonny Angara pointed to the financial difficulty teachers have long faced as a key reason behind the purchase. "For the longest time, our teachers have carried the heavy personal burden of buying their own laptops or maintaining outdated equipment just to keep up with lesson plans," Angara said in a statement.
MacBook Neo Retail Price History
The MacBook Neo launched in the Philippines in March 2026 at a starting price of ₱39,990 for the 256GB model, with an education launch price of ₱33,990 for students and teachers, according to Philippine technology outlets. Tech publication GizGuide reported in June that Apple raised the 256GB model's local price to ₱49,990 following a global memory shortage. DepEd's statement did not specify which configuration was procured or how it arrived at its stated reference retail price.
ACT: Purchase Covers Only a Fraction of Teachers
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines said the order does not come close to meeting the needs of the country's public school workforce. ACT chairperson Ruby Bernardo described the 172,654 units as "grossly insufficient" for a teaching force of nearly 900,000 and cautioned against portraying the purchase as fulfillment of the government's promise to provide every teacher with a laptop. "Our educators are subsidizing the government's failure to provide even the most basic tools for their work," Bernardo said.
ACT also called for devices that are reasonably priced, durable, and suited to teachers' actual work needs, along with adequate training, technical support, and maintenance provisions.
Part of a Broader Computerization Program
The MacBook Neo procurement forms part of the DepEd Computerization Program. DepEd has so far awarded contracts for a total of 231,725 teacher laptops under the program, which includes 62,717 Windows-based units procured in a separate contract. The program received ₱10 billion in funding, according to available reports, though the full budget breakdown has not been detailed in the source material.
Source: Philippine Star / DepEd Philippines