Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

ARMacs prices?

I don't believe there will be any price drops. Just look at iPad Pro pricing for example. By the time you add a Magic Keyboard to a 12.9 iPP, you're already at $200 more than the equivalent 256gb 2020 MBP 13's price. Even if you went for the folio, you're still above the MBP and the MBA's asking price.
iPP may have a more expensive to manufacture screen, but the chip should be much cheaper than Intel's as it's in house.
Prices stay the same.

Apple should also be able to spread the R&D cost as the A14/A15 and future generations will be likely using the same core from the iPhone to the MacBook Pro likely just different number of cores.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Spectrum, sananda, mabhatter and 1 other person
robertosh said:
what do you think about ARMacs future prices? I assume that should be cheaper to produce as I expect everything to be integrated, non user replaceable memory nor disk. And they could reuse a lot of its current infrastructure for the mobile devices. The other thing is if Apple wants to reflect this on final prices...
Click to expand...
How would they be cheaper? Do you have any idea how many millions they spent on R&D? To just calculate the part price is ridiculously stupid.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Detnator
I doubt prices will change dramatically. Apples prices are really well thought out with partly overlapping categories. It isn’t really a question on margins, it’s careful price work.

As an example on how this price/performance upgrades work, my hunt for a new computer started with a MacBook Air and has passed through the pro in various specs. Now I had almost decided for a new iMac but would really like an ARM so I might wait.
I could definitely see a cheap entry level machine perfect for schools and universities though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ader42 and Tekguy0
A change like this isn’t about price. Probably will stay the same the price points are pretty consistent over the years.

The benefit is that the millions of apps on IOS will come to Mac and a few of them are good. Since development will be easier Mac and iOS users will get more for the same.

so this is really good for Mac users. More apps more development. Mac has been falling behind pc and iOS. now Mac, iOS and Apple TV will all be on the same code base. And Apple will have almost unified development. This can’t happen in Android and Windows, not soon, maybe not forever.

this is not about price or performance. It is about the Apple platform.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Detnator and TheKDub
cpnotebook80 said:
They would have to target their bottom lines and cover the cost for R&D for new chips coming down the pipelines. I assume they will be manufacturing the chips in the US or out of country like China?
Click to expand...
Probably in the US or Taiwan. TSMC just opened a US factory, and all the systems to do the fabrication come from the US or the Netherlands.
 
I think the entry level models will be much cheaper. I am sure when Apple moved to Intel, I upgraded from an iBook to a MacBook, and brand new it was like £700. Then very quickly over the coming years most of their products were back to being above £1000 - or am i looking back with rose tinted glasses?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nightfury326
DanTSX said:
Not if you spec with reasonable SSD and ram.
Click to expand...

Yeah, once you pimp it out, you’re really into the, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro dilemma. Well, I say that, I went for the Air in the end for one simple reason - function keys.

Yup, I hate the Touch Bar that much, I had a completely speced out MBP 15 with Touch Bar and sold it 6 months later. Sure you can make the TB have the function keys on it, but it just can’t replicate the tactility of actual keys - yet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sheppard
bastifantasti said:
I think the entry level models will be much cheaper. I am sure when Apple moved to Intel, I upgraded from an iBook to a MacBook, and brand new it was like £700. Then very quickly over the coming years most of their products were back to being above £1000 - or am i looking back with rose tinted glasses?
Click to expand...

iBook G4 1.33Ghz 12" Mid 2005 : £699
MacBook CoreDuo 1.83Ghz 13" 2006 : £749

So yes: rose tinted glasses I'm afraid. Sure the MacBook was dual core, larger screen etc. But it was more expensive than the base iBook it replaced, not cheaper
 
It depends on the performance of the Arm chips. I expect an improvement in the performance a user gets at a price point.

I also think the Arm processors will allow more flexibility in the form factors as Apple can make chips around what they want. We may see some new models that are cheaper, perhaps the return of the MacBook, and a tiny Mac Nano model.
 
Did prices change when they switched from PPC to Intel? Nope, I expect it to be the same or even more expensive.
 
I don't see prices going down. I see new and exciting form factors not possible before and 30 hour battery life laptops, then I see a iMac Pro as thin as an iPad Pro with a mini LED display that has doesn't make a sound and they talk about how this thin piece of glass can edit 5 steams of 8k video and add effects at only 50c.
[automerge]1593085875[/automerge]
robbieduncan said:
iBook G4 1.33Ghz 12" Mid 2005 : £699
MacBook CoreDuo 1.83Ghz 13" 2006 : £749

So yes: rose tinted glasses I'm afraid. Sure the MacBook was dual core, larger screen etc. But it was more expensive than the base iBook it replaced, not cheaper
Click to expand...

A wee bit more expensive but it was also 5.5X faster if I recall.
 
johannnn said:
How would they be cheaper? Do you have any idea how many millions they spent on R&D? To just calculate the part price is ridiculously stupid.
Click to expand...
Apple spends OVER $1.2B a month on R&D, and the vast majority of that was probably going to ARM chips for Mac, as most other products are just getting refinements.
[automerge]1593086701[/automerge]
Tafkaeken said:
I could definitely see a cheap entry level machine perfect for schools and universities though.
Click to expand...
The only thing that has any chance of competing in the education sector is the base model iPad, and only when its on sale. Schools pick up durable, cheap-to-fix, and most importantly, highly manageable Chromebooks for a little over $100, so an iPad that is more prone to breakage and can do less "important" work without accessories is a hard sell, at least to public schools.
 
0 price drop

They money they’d save will go into R&D,wages, etc.I doubt they’re saving any Mo eh during this transition. Probably expending more.
 
Changes I expect to see: A lot more frequent releases options with "lines" of desktops and laptops that look more like future iPhone and iPad releases, both in terms of design and pricing. One low-end, one mid-range and one high-end.

The new designs have to signal that the computers are all Apple now so I expect them to look and operate much more like iOS devices than ever before.

Changes I don't see happening: Drastic deacreases or increases in pricing. Yes, Apple will eventually make when more per device sold. But no company in their right mind would lower their prices if their target demographic is gonna keep buying new computers almost no matter how high the price.

Love or hate it, Apple has created their own indirect monopoly and can and do charge much more than most other tech brands.

Apple's "cheap" products like the entry level iPad or SE 2nd gen are only lower priced because of significant cuts on features that you only see in their flagship and "Pro" lineups.

If there we see any "cheaper than Intel"-ARM Macs then they'll be non-user-upgradeable and will lack in key areas that creatives and pros would need, like proper GPUs or high amounts of RAM and internal storage like we saw in the 2018 Mac mini.

A cornerstone in Apple's image is always having a line of powerful, excessively well-designed and attractive looking designs aimed at professionals and creatives, computers that also are priced way above nearly any other brand. This has been a part of their marketing even before the iPod and iPhone happened and I don't see this changing.
 
Last edited:
cpnotebook80 said:
They would have to target their bottom lines and cover the cost for R&D for new chips coming down the pipelines. I assume they will be manufacturing the chips in the US or out of country like China?
Click to expand...

TSMC for sure, they need the 5nm technology
 
I expect them to stay the same or go higher. Intel had the advantage creating supply across Windows, Mac, and servers. Mac themselves don't have the scale necessary to keep chip prices low.
 
robertosh said:
what do you think about ARMacs future prices? I assume that should be cheaper to produce as I expect everything to be integrated, non user replaceable memory nor disk. And they could reuse a lot of its current infrastructure for the mobile devices. The other thing is if Apple wants to reflect this on final prices...
Click to expand...

I suspect prices will either drop, or you'll get a LOT more performance for the money.

Intel want like $300 for the CPU (In lots of 1000 for OEMs) in the MacBook Airs and 13" Pros.

that's the price of an entire fracking IPAD which will outperform it. Whether Apple drop the price or you just get more performance than the equivalent windows machine by a long shot remains to be seen, but in either case I expect the VALUE proposition to get a lot better.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ader42
For what its worth, nobody on here has the foggiest idea what Apple is thinking about prices or money. Can't wait to see what they do.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nightfury326
You'll pay the early adopter premium on the first few mac's running Apple silicon.
 
glindon said:
Current ASP according to Intel from their financials is around $300 per cpu so while it's easy to speculate on what deals OEMs get from intel, we know they're paying an average of $300 per cpu. Retail sales are tiny compared to OEM sales so that doesn't change ASP much. There is no such thing as buying a retail mobile cpu from intel. Bulk of intel sales are for lower end cpus in laptops which drives the ASP down. Apple doesn't use any cheap intel cpus so based on ASP they are paying more than $300 for each cpu.
Click to expand...
I'm not real good with math, but it has been reported that Intel sells Apple about $3.4 billion worth of chips a year. Apples sells around 18 - 19 million Macs a year. So I would think Apple pays somewhere between $178 - $190 per cpu. Of course intel probably provides Apple with more than just CPUs, so the price may actually be even lower.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back