Tech titan Apple has secured its largest education deal involving Mac computers after the Department of Education (DepEd) awarded contracts for the procurement of 172,654 MacBook Neo laptops for public school teachers and administrative personnel nationwide.
The agreement was disclosed during Apple’s fourth-quarter 2026 financial results conference call, where Apple chief executive officer John Ternus identified the Philippine government as the company’s biggest education customer for Mac computers under a single deal.
“I’m feeling great about the opportunities ahead for Apple, from our product roadmap and broad range of services to promising areas like health, emerging markets, enterprise, and education,” Ternus said.
“As one example, we recently secured our biggest education deal ever for Mac, with the Department of Education in the Philippines. They’re going to deploy 170,000 MacBook Neos to teachers and staff.”
DepEd said it completed competitive bidding for the procurement, securing the MacBook Neo package at approximately P43,000 per unit, or P6,900 below the laptop’s suggested retail price of P49,900 in the Philippines.
At the stated unit price, the Apple procurement is worth approximately P7.42 billion.
The package includes a five-year warranty, compared with the standard one-year warranty for retail purchases. DepEd said this is the first time its laptop procurement has included warranty coverage of this duration.
The contract also covers built-in productivity tools, delivery and logistics, and professional development programs for teachers and other recipients.
Of the 172,654 MacBook Neo units, 169,008 are intended for public school teachers, while 3,646 will be distributed to administrative officers.
The Apple deal accounts for the majority of the 231,725 laptops that DepEd has so far awarded for teachers under its Computerization Program. The remaining 62,717 units are Windows-based laptops.
DepEd secretary Sonny Angara said the procurement is intended to address the longstanding problem of teachers having to purchase their own computers or rely on outdated equipment for classroom and administrative work.
“For the longest time, our teachers have carried the heavy personal burden of buying their own laptops or maintaining outdated equipment just to keep up with lesson plans. Under the vision of Pres. Marcos, we are changing the narrative,” Angara said.
“We welcome Apple’s participation in this procurement to bring MacBook Neo to our teachers. It isn’t just about handing out world-class hardware with five-year warranties; it’s about giving our educators the best tools, backed by robust training so they can focus on what matters most: teaching our children.”
As part of the agreement, DepEd is collaborating with Apple on GuroXL, a training program designed to help teachers integrate Apple devices into classroom instruction.
Developed in coordination with the National Educators Academy of the Philippines (NEAP), the program will provide training pathways toward Apple Teacher certifications and specialized technology leadership credentials.
DepEd said the deployment of all 172,654 MacBook Neo units is scheduled from November 2026 through March 2027.
The agency and Apple are also preparing a series of regional distribution activities across Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao beginning this month.
The agreement represents a major institutional purchase for Apple in the Philippine education sector, with the company supplying nearly three-fourths of the laptops awarded so far under DepEd’s latest teacher laptop procurement initiative.
