Apple's Low-Cost MacBook: Everything We Know So Far

[MacRumors]

Apple is working on a more affordable version of the MacBook that's powered by an A-series iPhone chip rather than an M-series Apple silicon chip. We've rounded up all of the rumors about the new machine, which is expected next year.

Design

The upcoming low-cost MacBook will have a 13-inch display (approximately), according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. That means it will be right around the same size as the 13-inch MacBook Air that Apple already sells.

Apple used to have a super thin 12-inch MacBook and there have been some off and on rumors over the years suggesting it could see a revival. A thin and light MacBook with an iPhone chip in it doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility.

The first version of the 12-inch MacBook had a low-power Core M chip, and it came out in 2015, well before Apple transitioned to Apple silicon. There were no fans inside and that kept it thin and quiet, a design that Apple has continued with the MacBook Air.

An A-series chip would not run as hot as an M-series chip, and it would need even fewer heat dissipation features. Even though thinner and lighter often means more expensive with Apple devices, that might not be the case with an iPhone chip in a body the size of the MacBook Air.

Colors

Apple reserves stately colors for its "Pro" machines, and often uses fun colors for its lower-cost products. Rumors suggest that the low-cost MacBook could be made available in silver, blue, pink, and yellow. Those color options actually sound similar to the color options that Apple offers for the iMac, so we could be looking at iMac-style shades.

Chip

Kuo says the low-cost MacBook will use an A18 Pro chip, and we've also seen signs of a MacBook with an A18 Pro in Apple's code, so all signs point to the A18.

The A18 Pro is the chip that Apple introduced in the iPhone 16 Pro. It uses a second-generation 3-nanometer process and for an iPhone chip, performance is impressive.

There's a 6-core CPU with four performance cores and two efficiency cores, along with a 6-core GPU and a 16-core Neural Engine for AI-based tasks. In Geekbench benchmarks, the A18 Pro has an average single-core score of 3451, and a multi-core score of 8572. For comparison, the M4 chip in the iPad Pro earns a single-core score of 3694 and a multi-core score of 13732.

The A18 Pro outperforms the M1, which is the chip that Apple kept around in a lower-cost version of the MacBook Air for several years.

So an A18 MacBook wouldn't be too far off from the M4 Mac/iPad chips in terms of single-core performance, but there would be a difference in multi-core performance.

Thermal Design

The iPhone 16 Pro has a thermal architecture that combines a titanium frame with a graphite clad aluminum substructure, and some parts of that build could translate to a MacBook.

RAM

Macs start with 16GB RAM, but the iPhone 16 Pro has 8GB RAM, the minimum for Apple Intelligence. We can expect an A18 Pro MacBook to have at least 8GB RAM so it can support Apple Intelligence, but it's possible Apple will give it the 16GB that all Macs have.

Ports

The A18 Pro chip in the iPhone 16 Pro models doesn't support Thunderbolt, so the MacBook will be limited to USB-C (10GB/s) and won't offer Thunderbolt speeds. That will limit display connectivity, so it's likely the A18 Pro MacBook will only support a single external display.

Price

The MacBook Air with M4 chip is priced starting at $999, and it comes with a 10-core CPU, an 8-core GPU, 16GB RAM, and a 256GB SSD. The A18 Pro MacBook could be a couple hundred dollars less expensive, though we have no insight into pricing right now.

Apple probably won't want to undercut its iPad pricing. The low-cost iPad with A16 chip starts at $349, and the iPad Air with M2 chip starts at $599. A price around $599 to $699 could make the most sense because it wouldn't be as expensive as the MacBook Air or iPad Pro, but would come in at or just over the iPad Air's cost.

$599 would be on par with some of the highly rated Chromebook options that people often purchase for school use. $599 is also the cost of the iPhone 16e, Apple's most affordable iPhone that uses a slightly less powerful A18 chip.

Launch Date

Kuo says Apple is going to start producing the low-cost MacBook late in the fourth quarter of 2025 or early in the first quarter of 2026. That would align with a spring 2026 launch timeline.

Article Link: Apple's Low-Cost MacBook: Everything We Know So Far

 

[JPack]

Unless Apple prices this wrong, it should be fairly popular. Most users can’t tell the difference between M1 to M4, and this low-cost MacBook outperforms M1. Thunderbolt is left idle on most MacBooks, so 10 Gbps isn’t a big barrier.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Unless Apple prices this wrong, it should be fairly popular. Most users can’t tell the difference between M1 to M4, and this low-cost MacBook outperforms M1. Thunderbolt is left idle on most MacBooks, so 10 Gbps isn’t a big barrier.

Agreed. I can't see or feel any speed differences between the M1 Air and my M4 Pro.

I do use thunderbolt, but just for a dock. A usb-c dock would do me just as well, and did for several years before I bought my CalDigit.

 

[Xand&Roby]

Apple won't release macOS that runs on an iPhone chip.

It only did it for the transition to Apple Silicon, and it withdrew all the Mac minis it managed to recover.

Moreover, Apple is no longer able to manage temperatures and batteries with Apple Silicon chips, won't you really believe that all Apple devices have grown in size because suddenly those who have been using iPhone since 2007, iPad since 2010 and Apple Watch since 2015, have stretched out their fingers, their hands grew, swollen wrists?!

They are no longer able to handle miniaturization, and in fact they can't: all the devices resemble the PowerBook G4 in summer, real ovens.

Besides, they don't have a real designer anymore, who should make this Mac, an engineer?!

XD

 

[now i see it]

Email, internet usage, messaging - its more than enough

 

[Moonjumper]

Reasonable performance instead of excellent performance is OK if the price is right. I would be fine with a smaller battery to make it as light and cheap as possible. The lower chip will use less power, and it is highly likely Apple won't want their cheapest laptop to have the longest battery life.

 

[segfaultdotorg]

Fake rumour. They’re bringing back the G3 chip!

 

[jlc1978]

Unless Apple prices this wrong, it should be fairly popular. Most users can’t tell the difference between M1 to M4, and this low-cost MacBook outperforms M1. Thunderbolt is left idle on most MacBooks, so 10 Gbps isn’t a big barrier.

It would also be a good mass-market machine in the Walmarts and Targets of teh world; replacing the ~600 Air with a machine around the same price point. It could be a perfect machine for a user that just really needs the web, email, and an office suite; as well as a good choice for students.

 

[ThisIsMike]

I WILL EAT MY LEFT ARM if the low-cost MacBook is priced below $699 retail. Not a CHANCE. And honestly, I'd more readily believe $799. What isn't being considered here is that the MacBook Air is unlikely to hold onto that $999 entry price for much longer. The M3 MacBook Air models had already been at a starting price of $1099, and Apple was able to claw it back down with M4. With the tariff situation being what it is, I can all but guarantee that the MacBook Air M5 will start at at LEAST $1,099 again, and possibly higher (but hopefully not).

Let's assume then for the moment that the next MacBook Air starts at $1099, the "low cost" version could come in at $799, and it would appear to be a bargain, while at the same time, maintaining the typical Apple premium.

I think $799 is going to be the cost, but I'm willing to acknowledge that $699 is at least a remote possibility.

But a $599 retail MacBook? Not in my lifetime.

I could be wrong, and that's fine. I'm a righty anyway.

 

[iZac]

Maybe it'll cost $699 for 128GB and run iPadOS - pricing it right between an iPad with a keyboard and a 13" iPad air without one.

And it would be called *ugh* : Apple Book

EDIT: BTW I'm not saying this it what it should be - just that knowing Apple they nearly always sabotage something to keep it competitive to their own products rather than the market as a whole. Undercutting their own Macbook air by $300+ dollars is too much of a drop for them. If this runs macOS it'll be $899 or really compromised in some fundamental way at $799

 

[zenmacx]

Apples product pricing history reveals their addiction to "premium pricing" therefore it's hard to imagine this will be reasonably priced.

They have their followers submitting to high prices which is the Apple way. The faithful will happily pay the price.

 

[TSE]

Fake rumour. They’re bringing back the G3 chip!

I was hoping Motorola 68k!

 

[whelmedjedi]

Apple won't release macOS that runs on an iPhone chip.

It only did it for the transition to Apple Silicon, and it withdrew all the Mac minis it managed to recover.

Moreover, Apple is no longer able to manage temperatures and batteries with Apple Silicon chips, won't you really believe that all Apple devices have grown in size because suddenly those who have been using iPhone since 2007, iPad since 2010 and Apple Watch since 2015, have stretched out their fingers, their hands grew, swollen wrists?!

They are no longer able to handle miniaturization, and in fact they can't: all the devices resemble the PowerBook G4 in summer, real ovens.

Besides, they don't have a real designer anymore, who should make this Mac, an engineer?!

XD

If the designer is Jony Ive, i would prefer no designer as well. His curvy design porn was enough. And enough is enough. And who says engineers are bad designers? Lol. Current designs of all apple products are awesome.

 

[Dr McKay]

Unless Apple prices this wrong, it should be fairly popular. Most users can’t tell the difference between M1 to M4, and this low-cost MacBook outperforms M1. Thunderbolt is left idle on most MacBooks, so 10 Gbps isn’t a big barrier.

I expect it’ll be priced not much lower than the entry level MacBook Air in order to get people to think “If I spend $100/200 more I can get a better machine”

 

[steve09090]

I expect it’ll be priced not much lower than the entry level MacBook Air in order to get people to think “If I spend $100/200 more I can get a better machine”

Competing with the Mac Mini in price is my guess. But yeah the Apple Price Ladder is my thought as well.

 

[whelmedjedi]

Release bootcamp back, normalize prices for more ram and ssd. Then many people will buy macbooks like crazy with these amazing apple silicon chips.

Honestly i love macbooks and macos. But i have some softwares that are only available on windows. And without them, i cant do my job. Yes there is parallels. But i dont want double converting environment. (x64 to arm then windows arm to macos arm) With bootcamp, things would work with more performance.

I currently have m2 macbook air and its amazing. But with current situation, i wont buy a macbook pro.

 

[ttyRazor]

I WILL EAT MY LEFT ARM if the low-cost MacBook is priced below $699 retail. Not a CHANCE. And honestly, I'd more readily believe $799. What isn't being considered here is that the MacBook Air is unlikely to hold onto that $999 entry price for much longer. The M3 MacBook Air models had already been at a starting price of $1099, and Apple was able to claw it back down with M4. With the tariff situation being what it is, I can all but guarantee that the MacBook Air M5 will start at at LEAST $1,099 again, and possibly higher (but hopefully not).

Let's assume then for the moment that the next MacBook Air starts at $1099, the "low cost" version could come in at $799, and it would appear to be a bargain, while at the same time, maintaining the typical Apple premium.

I think $799 is going to be the cost, but I'm willing to acknowledge that $699 is at least a remote possibility.

But a $599 retail MacBook? Not in my lifetime.

I could be wrong, and that's fine. I'm a righty anyway.

It’ll probably be one of those Apple products that’s perpetually on sale at Best Buy and the like for $50-$100 off a few months after release. MSRP directly from Apple will be aggravatingly high, but it won’t be hard to get it for less.

 

[ThisIsMike]

It’ll probably be one of those Apple products that’s perpetually on sale at Best Buy and the like for $50-$100 off a few months after release. MSRP directly from Apple will be aggravatingly high, but it won’t be hard to get it for less.

I agree with ya Razor (which is why I specified retail price). As with most Apple products, you'll inevitably get a better deal elsewhere.

 

[Andy_2341]

And honestly, I'd more readily believe $799. What isn't being considered here is that the MacBook Air is unlikely to hold onto that $999 entry price for much longer. The M3 MacBook Air models had already been at a starting price of $1099, and Apple was able to claw it back down with M4.


I think $799 is going to be the cost, but I'm willing to acknowledge that $699 is at least a remote possibility.

This is why I lost excitement with this rumor. Yes, the A-Series MacBook is plenty for my student needs. (currently using an iPad mini in fact.) The price is the problem. I can use edu pricing and sell the AirPods I can get right now for free and end up in the same $799 ballpark and have a full blown M4 Air. Sure, most don’t qualify for that deal, and edu pricing would make the A-Series MacBook a bit better deal, but for many it doesn’t make monetary sense.

There needs to be more of a feature or size difference in my opinion or else it will be like the 16e.

 

[jent]

My main (and often only) computer was a desktop for like six years, then ever since then a laptop. Tomorrow I'll unpack a new base Mac mini M4 and use it as my daily driver while I keep around my 2020 MacBook Pro for work travel. I think the base MacBook Air would be a great supplement, but for now I don't have the money. If Apple can manage to make it even cheaper with a lower-cost laptop, I'd bite. I would really only need it for typing out emails and giving PowerPoint presentations off my own device, without anything else. Curious to see where this goes!

 

[Xand&Roby]

XD
I'm swamped with iPad, iPhone, Mac, any Apple Watch and any other **** Apple has produced.

What do you have apart from your M1 iPad?

Do you know what the only constant of Apple products is? Overheating.

You can feel it in an iPhone connected to a TV with Apple's HDMI adapter, in an iPad put under stress, in a Mac on a sultry day.

But to know the products you have to own them: I've owned them for decades, what experience do you have?

 

[BBCWatcher]

I was hoping Motorola 68k!

Don't be ridiculous!

I'm confident the new budget MacBook will be powered by the latest W65C02S-14 CPU. This powerful CPU with a maximum clock speed of 0.014 GHz is a direct descendant of the MOS 6502 used in the Apple 1, Apple ][, and related models. Developers understand 6502 programming well by now. Rosetta 3 will help translate ARM64 code to 6502.

In fact, a reputable leaker in China who correctly predicted the name of one of Apple's previous products ("Apple //c") found an embedded string in an unreleased build of macOS that could be for the new MacBook: "WozBook1,1." There's also evidence in the build that AppleTalk, SCSI, ADB, FireWire, floppy disk, joystick port, NuBus, and PCMCIA drivers may be returning to macOS.

I just hope it can run UCSD p-System alongside macOS.🤞

 

[JPack]

I WILL EAT MY LEFT ARM if the low-cost MacBook is priced below $699 retail. Not a CHANCE. And honestly, I'd more readily believe $799. What isn't being considered here is that the MacBook Air is unlikely to hold onto that $999 entry price for much longer. The M3 MacBook Air models had already been at a starting price of $1099, and Apple was able to claw it back down with M4. With the tariff situation being what it is, I can all but guarantee that the MacBook Air M5 will start at at LEAST $1,099 again, and possibly higher (but hopefully not).

Let's assume then for the moment that the next MacBook Air starts at $1099, the "low cost" version could come in at $799, and it would appear to be a bargain, while at the same time, maintaining the typical Apple premium.

I think $799 is going to be the cost, but I'm willing to acknowledge that $699 is at least a remote possibility.

But a $599 retail MacBook? Not in my lifetime.

I could be wrong, and that's fine. I'm a righty anyway.

You're significantly overestimating the cost for Apple to produce these things. Multiple teardowns have shown MacBook Air costs only about $400 to produce. The most expensive M2 MacBook Air ($1,199) had a BOM of $500 back in 2022.

Apple will happily sell everyone a M4 MacBook Air for $899 today because everyone qualifies for the edu discount.

The low-cost MacBook uses A18 Pro, which costs about $90 today, or about 50% less than M4. Other differences include the display cost (no notch cut), cheaper chassis, smaller battery, and very likely less RAM. Apple can make a $300 to $350 BOM MacBook and price it between $649 to $749.

Any tariffs will be on the BOM, not retail. Maybe 20%? That still makes a $649 to $749 product possible.

 

[steve09090]

XD
I'm swamped with iPad, iPhone, Mac, any Apple Watch and any other **** Apple has produced.

What do you have apart from your M1 iPad?

Do you know what the only constant of Apple products is? Overheating.

You can feel it in an iPhone connected to a TV with Apple's HDMI adapter, in an iPad put under stress, in a Mac on a sultry day.

But to know the products you have to own them: I've owned them for decades, what experience do you have?

Oh, I don’t know. Maybe 3 HomePods, 3 AppleTV’s, MacBookAir M1, iPhone 15 Pro, iPad Pro M1, Apple Watch Series 8, run HomeKit through my house…. Plus I manage all my partners equivalent products. And many iterations before that, plus serviced Macbook Airs and Pros and Mini's in their Intel versions for many people. Because Intel Macs sucked like my near new Windows Laptop does. I updated it after it being off for 6 weeks yesterday. 46 system updates and 26 software updates. Those things are junk unless you update them every day.

Nothing I have overheats. To be perfectly honest, on occasion (maybe twice in almost 2 years) my iPhone has gotten a bit warm.

 

[noraa]

Fake rumour. They’re bringing back the G3 chip!

Hell no, it’s the PowerBook G5!