New MacBook With A18 Pro Chip Spotted in Apple Code

[Zdigital2015]

The Mac mini DTK ran an A12X, so an A18 certainly isn’t some incredible revelation. It could run macOS or iPadOS or both. If Apple can build the M1 MacBook Air and sell those in Wal-mart at $649, then they can sell these at a similar price point and start digging into Windows market share. People may say that market share is irrelevant in this day and age, but Services income depends on devices in use, and Apple finally controls most of the stack manufacturing wise, so maybe the time is ripe. Very interested to see where this leads.

 

[AlexESP]

If iPhones, iPads, and Macs all sharing the same chips then any software restrictions at this point are purely arbitrary.

“Everything” is arbitrary. iPhones, iPads and Macs have what you call “software restrictions” because they make sense a functional point of view, and sharing chips changes none of that.

 

[turbineseaplane]

No. You can buy an M4 Macbook Air 13" for $999

Today ...
May not be true in the future once the lineup gets adjusted*.


* prices increased across the board

 

[ProbablyDylan]

There already is a $999 MacBook Air.

No. You can buy an M4 Macbook Air 13" for $999

You guys know they can move the lineup around and change prices, right?

 

[Dr McKay]

Could be a great option, M1 Macs are still decent for the vast majority of users, and the A18 slightly outperforms the M1 with less power consumption. Could power a series of budget Macs with legendary battery life.

 

[MayaUser]

so an Ipad air/ipad pro will be more powerful with M SoC than a Macbook??
This should be under $699

 

[opeter]

This is just a bizarre rumor/product. Estimates are that the M1 costs Apple ~$40/chip, and the A18 costs...~$40/chip. So what's the point?

The price of the A18 will go down, because it will be produced in larger quantities. This automatically means less cost for Apple.

so an Ipad air/ipad pro will be more powerful with M SoC than a Macbook??
This should be under $699

iPads with the M SoCs will definitely be more powerful, than the A series MacBook(s). Of course, Apple can limit or otherwise reduce the features/capabilities of the chips in iPads.

This should be under $699

That doesn't mean that Apple will magically start selling $300 laptops.

 

[novagamer]

How did “macrumors” identify this?

There is literally zero information other than the identifier, what exactly links the identifier to this rumored Mac? “Can now reveal” and “subsequently confirmed” sure implies a lot more than any of the text suggests, what in the ever loving lack of journalism?

Did Macrumors have a scoop and …not share it? This is such a confusing post.

 

[unregbaron]

Polycarbonate enclosure, $699, education price $599

 

[BNBMS]

This is just a bizarre rumor/product. Estimates are that the M1 costs Apple ~$40/chip, and the A18 costs...~$40/chip. So what's the point?

M1 series are several generations away and currently focusing on 3nm which makes A18 Pro more viable choice. Besides, the single core speed of A18 Pro is a lot faster than M1.

 

[MacFan782040]

Maybe it’ll be a laptop that runs iPad OS. They can call it an iBook

 

[tipoo]

Return of the Polycarbonate Unibody?

Polycarbonate instead of aluminum, A18 instead of M4, drop 200 dollars, 699 could have a lot of appeal for school/fleet buys and a lot of individual users as well

I wonder if they'd go back to plastic fantastic

 

[Eric_WVGG]

someone who wants macOS is just going to get the already quite affordable M4 or even M3/M2 MacBook Air, all which have came with 16 GB of RAM by default for the last nine months and could be found for as cheap as $650.
The people who don’t care are just going to get the iPad.
so who is this for?

The people who don’t care but need a keyboard and trackpad. (and no, those clip-on external things don't count, fiddly + expensive)

 

[Eric_WVGG]

Maybe it’ll be a laptop that runs iPad OS. They can call it an iBook

yup, nailed it

 

[racer1441]

Hopefully a new 12" MacBook. If so, count me in!

That 12" MacBook was the best machine Apple has ever made. It's the foundation for the entire place we are now with Apple's laptop lineup.

And such an Apple thing to do. Thing is fantastic (We can argue over the keyboard, I loved the butterfly) but was limited by what Intel could do so they set out to build their own chip that makes it work.

Think about the iPad Pro with a M4 chip. That's a huge amount of power in something with that footprint.

 

[polaris20]

I'd love an 11" or 12" MacBook with this, and 16GB RAM/512GB SSD.

 

[nicolas17]

… wait a minute. What if this thing runs iPadOS?

that's exactly the kind of detail Ming-Chi tends to get wrong.

That would be called an iPad. This is definitely a Mac.

 

[Makosuke]

The distinction between the chip ranges is somewhat arbitrary anyway. Remember the Mac Mini AS DevKit used a A12-Z running MacOS back in 2020.

Glad someone else remembers that. I was going to be pedantic and complain about the “never used an A-series chip in a Mac before” bit.

 

[bluecoast]

This is just a bizarre rumor/product. Estimates are that the M1 costs Apple ~$40/chip, and the A18 costs...~$40/chip. So what's the point?

I think it’s because they already have a load of production lines making the a18 for the most popular line of phones in the world & they’re still going to be making and selling these phones in 25/26 - and presumably they hope to sell a tonne of a18 MacBooks.

 

[kiranmk2]

8 or 12 GB RAM? 128 GB Storage? Non-retina display? A18 (rather than A18 Pro)? These could be the only way Apple would want to get the price down - no way they sacrifice margin for volumes. Perhaps this will accompany the fabled plastic Apple Watch?

 

[bluecoast]

I smell 8GB RAM. Apple never design their SoC to support anything over what it needs.

Honestly you could be right and I thought that too but now I think it’ll be 16Gb as no doubt apple will want to start charging for AI services at some point.

… That’s if they can make any AI services that are good enough for people to want to pay for.

Presumably though they’ll be in some tier of iCloud+.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I think it’ll be 16Gb as no doubt apple will want to start charging for AI services at some point.

I honestly hope they do that.
It's the best form of "off switch" for those of us who want no part of it in our OS.

 

[bluecoast]

Software support for more years, unfortunately the M1 will stop receiving macOS updates in a couple years. Also for a machine like this, the single core performance is waaaay more important as this will not be geared towards professional use, but more basic tasks, so the A18 Pro will be better than the M1. And lastly, it gives the illusion of tiered value, Apple can sell this cheap and it’ll be fine because it won’t be looked at as a “serious M powered chip”.

Some great points.

I wonder if we’ll see the chassis in recycled plastic or some sorts of carbon composite?

It’ll help them bring the price down - and their profits per unit up - and provide a clear demarcation between it and the mba.

 

[kwikdeth]

I could see this occupying the $999 slot as just MacBook.

Yeah anybody thinking this is going to result in a lower cost product is fooling themselves. This is just about thermals so they can make an even thinner laptop.

 

[StoneJack]

8 or 12 GB RAM? 128 GB Storage? Non-retina display? A18 (rather than A18 Pro)? These could be the only way Apple would want to get the price down - no way they sacrifice margin for volumes. Perhaps this will accompany the fabled plastic Apple Watch?

8/128 Blue, silver, pink, yellow color, 12.8 inch IPS 400 LED display, A18 Pro chip and GPU, 14 hour battery, MacOS, 599 dollars, 16/256 799 dollars