In late 2023, Digitimes reported that Apple was creating a low-cost MacBook, kicking off loads of hypothesis about what that may imply and the way the corporate would possibly execute on such a product.
Right here’s what I wrote then:
The trendy Apple technique is to re-use older applied sciences to create extra reasonably priced merchandise… Why does the M1 MacBook Air [still] exist? As a result of Apple desires to have a product accessible at a (comparatively) low value level…
Now let’s think about a world with a M3 MacBook Air in it. Does Apple discontinue the M2 mannequin, or push it down into the $999 vary? Does Apple discontinue the M1 Air at that time? Within the Intel period I’d have answered sure, however the Apple silicon period is one thing totally different. The reality is, even now, the M1 is greater than sufficient for many potential Mac customers.
Simply as a thought experiment, think about what Apple would possibly do if it was planning to import the iPhone SE technique to the Mac. It will take some older, however nonetheless fairly succesful applied sciences—say, every thing that makes up an M1 Mac. The machine’s elements are fastidiously scrutinized with a watch towards eliminating value wherever potential, with out sacrificing a fundamental Apple stage of high quality.
Immediately we’ve acquired an M4 MacBook Air, however I can nonetheless purchase an M1 MacBook Air at Walmart for $649. And on Sunday that Digitimes report boomeranged again to us within the type of a publish from supply-chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo:
Extra-Reasonably priced MacBook… Anticipated to enter mass manufacturing in late 4Q25 or early 1Q26, with an roughly 13-inch show and powered by the A18 Professional processor. Potential casing colours embody silver, blue, pink, and yellow… The more-affordable MacBook is projected to account for five–7 million models for 2026.
(MacRumors says they’ve additionally seen proof for this product.)
The extra issues change, the extra they continue to be the identical. My ideas about this rumor are similar to my ideas 22 months in the past. First off, the M1 MacBook Air can’t be offered eternally. I’m positive the margins on a five-year-old product are nice, however Apple and TSMC absolutely wish to cease making M1 chips in some unspecified time in the future! So how do you make a new product that’s nonetheless nicely under the $999 of the (unbelievable worth) M4 MacBook Air?
Utilizing the identical A18 Professional processor discovered within the iPhone 16 Professional could be begin. Let’s have a look at the relative pace of the A18 Professional versus the M sequence present in Apple silicon Macs:
Properly, would you have a look at that? The A18 Professional is 46% sooner than the M1 in single-core duties, and virtually similar to the M1 on multi-core and graphics duties. For those who wished to eliminate the M1 MacBook Air however have determined that even at the moment, its efficiency traits make it completely appropriate as a low-cost Mac laptop computer, constructing a brand new mannequin on the A18 Professional wouldn’t be a foul transfer. It wouldn’t have Thunderbolt, solely USB-C, however that’s not a dealbreaker on an inexpensive laptop computer. It’d re-use elements from the M1 Air, together with the show.
I like that Apple sells a laptop computer at $649, and I feel Apple likes it, too. A brand new low-end mannequin would possibly steal some consumers from the $999 MacBook Air, however I’d wager it could attain loads of prospects who would possibly in any other case not purchase a full-priced Mac—the identical ones shopping for M1 MacBook Airs at Walmart.
(See additionally: Stephen Hackett’s ideas on this subject.)
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