The MacRumors Show: Apple's Plan to Launch Low-Cost MacBook With iPhone Chip

[SkweeBop]

I agree here: the M series chips are powerful, fast, and just because we've found a moment where a Macbook Air is able to punch above its weight in such a pronounced way compared to a pro model doesn't mean it will always be this way.

I consider my M3 Air 15" an wonderful anomaly: it seems to be more capable than my MBP '15 15" model and is a silent workhorse, a real achievement. Even my Mini M1 crushes video work in comparison to my old laptop.

a 12" or 13" Student and Boomer Mom® model would ensure the ecosystem is hitting everyone in the family (for the record, I've been wrestling with my own mom's 2014 MBA to get it as up-to-date as I can, and would love to get her something newish around 4-500 bucks. Apple could sweep in with that kind of machine if it was in the cards.

My wife loved her 12" MacBook. She still has it, but the battery is toast and it seems only knock-off batteries are available for it, which we tried and it was worthless. And the keyboard is now unusable too.

As for a new low-cost Mac on an A-series chip, it makes perfect sense. The M chips are getting to be so powerful that even the lowly M4 variant in the iPad Pro is more powerful than many need to do their daily email, watch some videos and surf the web or social media. And when Apple announced their shift to Apple Silicon, but before Apple officially launched the M1, the developer test kit systems they shipped out were a Mac mini based on the A14, which at the time handled about 90% of the available APIs and such for MacOS.

If they can bring back something like the 12" MacBook but with a keyboard that doesn't self-destruct, this could be a winning product to compete against other ultra-portables or Chromebooks.

 

[reyesmac]

The chip in their $1,000+ phone in a laptop is going to save us money or them money? Looks like they are seeking to use all the binned chips they cant use on a phone and sell it to us in a computer. Just make the keyboard part of the case plastic and the bottom and top aluminum. Don't give it a day of battery life and price it at $500. Thats how much an 8gb 256gb computer is worth these days. Well, actually much less than that if anyone else sold it.

 

[SkippyThorson]

So, a touch-free iPad with a non-removable keyboard?

M-Series chips to run iOS?
A series chips to run macOS!

Why the hell not?! /S

 

[dynamojoe]

Apple's making a Chromebook.

 

[midori matcha]

What is "affordable" in the MacBook world these days? I have a feeling this is going to be a begrudging $799 at best.

If it is indeed likely to have no Thunderbolt ports, no support for more than one display, and a cap at 8GB RAM, then you'd may as well find a used/refurb MacBook Air M1.

All I see happening here is Apple making a cynically economical move by simply selling off the rest of their unused/binned A18's as a heavily neutered MacBook, in preparation for the iPhone 17 line.

 

[theluggage]

If they ever restrict macOS to only running software acquired via the Mac App Store, that's the day it's "done" for me.

I agree - that would mean "time for Linux" - but that's a very clear line in the sand that they haven't crossed. "Gatekeeper" has been with us since (I think) 2012 and Apple haven't yet locked the gate. Having such a restriction as the default is probably a good idea as long as it can be turned off.

Anyway - I repeat my point, changing the processor doesn't signify anything to do with that sort of lockdown. The lock (Gatekeeper) arrived years before even T1/T2, and there's nothing about the A18 that makes it easier for Apple to turn the key if they so desire.

 

[woerden]

Is iPadOS MS Office not feature complete for the type of user we are talking about?

I made an account to respond to this comment. last year I bought a keyboard and mouse for my iPad Air, thinking exactly this: i could get some brain dead admin work done on the way. it was a whole lot jankier than I expected and anything involving multiple files was all but impossible. I’ve since just started lugging around my laptop. I tried to give my keyboard and mouse to a friend who has the most basic use of Office imaginable and used to do it in the free browser version of office online but even she had to eventually get a laptop. the iPad makes it so difficult to do the most basic file management that there is basically no replacing a laptop for any actual work.

 

[theluggage]

I made an account to respond to this comment. last year I bought a keyboard and mouse for my iPad Air, thinking exactly this: i could get some brain dead admin work done on the way. it was a whole lot jankier than I expected and anything involving multiple files was all but impossible.

Agree - the iPad is a great handheld device, but a lousy laptop. If this rumour pans out then it maybe that Apple have finally got that memo.

 

[ijordano]

As an Apple Store employee this is a product they need to scrap any idea of immediately. It’s already bad enough when people buy the entry level affordable MacBook/air and regret it within a year bc it’s tiny hard drive is full

 

[dandyryan]

i hope it's a skinny legend like mariah carey

 

[Jumpthesnark]

Can't believe my 2014 15" had 16GB 11 years ago and we're still waffling over this lol

The only 2014 15" laptops that came with 16GB were the high end Core i7 Pro models. They came with 16GB and couldn't go higher. Everything else was 4 or 8GB unless you went the BTO route. Considering they're discussing a rumored cheap laptop, that's kind of apples (no pun intended) and oranges.

 

[Jumpthesnark]

Apple's making a Chromebook.

Basically, this ^

If this device is aimed at students and entry level use, there is no need for much more than a browser and some apps. It's not going to run Photoshop or Final Cut. It won't hook up to an external monitor or a Thunderbolt device. If this device is made to segment into the lower end of the market, it would just need a browser and low-resource apps (the kind one finds in education), WiFi and Bluetooth, mid-level screen resolution, enough security to keep the user safe without them trying too hard, a decent battery and a light/small form factor. Add the colors from the 2011 iPads and you're good to go. For anything more than this, spend more and get an Air.

At least that's my wild speculation. It's worth what you paid for it and we won't know for sure until spring at the earliest.

 

[citysnaps]

OMG... the sky is falling, the sky is falling. Apple doesn't know what they're doing!

Yeah, that's been going on for a decade or two. I wonder if Apple will ever become a successful company?

Reminds me of "Who asked for a thousands songs in your pocket?" Or "Who asked for an Apple tablet? It's just a big iPhone."

Or "Apple Watch? If I need to know the time I'll just look at my iPhone."

 

[victorvictoria]

Boy oh boy, did they ever!

It does make me wonder at what price AVP would actually move in serious volume.

VR as an implementation -- even the very best of it -- still has a ton of drawbacks that turn off a lot of people, irrespective of price.

I'd say given its limited functionality at present, I'd say about $1,799 would be the upper limit for mass adoption, but I'd put my personal limit at under $1,000. It's not much more than a toy, and I'd need to buy the lens inserts on top of that. And a spare battery.

 

[lowkey]

I originally thought they would keep the existing MacBook Air body and screen for this budget model to reduce R&D costs. But then this new cheap model would eat into sales of the 13”MBP.

So it makes sense to go for a 12” screen and use the step up in screen size to upsell new customers to the MBA in store.

I used to own a 12” MB years ago and loved the form factor.

 

[Kevin2055]

Don't forget to make it in 5 colors to mimic iPhone 5C 😂

 

[Mega ST]

And the next step will be iPhones that are fully capable Macs?

 

[millar876]

Although I know apples profit margins are on the higher side and iPhone 16 pro is a halo/flagship product and commands a premium markup because of that, I can’t quite wrap my head round how the chip from a $1000+ phone, with a bigger screen, bigger battery, more metal in the case (and subsequently more tooling time) and a keyboard and trackpad comes out cheaper enough to be the “low cost” Mac, even with production costs potentially lowering due to improved manufacturing over the year since production started on a18 pro. Now it’s a perfectly capable chip and will be plenty performant, so no complaints on that side, just don’t get how it’ll be “cheaper” enough.

 

[iPadified]

Logical development. Since M1, MacOS has been running on iPhone tech.

A18 Pro has like better performance than an M1 that still runs MacOS fine. We live in a world where SoC performance is irrelevant for the majority of people - enjoy while it lasts.

 

[woerden]

Agree - the iPad is a great handheld device, but a lousy laptop. If this rumour pans out then it maybe that Apple have finally got that memo.

oh they know. I think they have always hamstrung the iPad on purpose so that MacBook sales aren’t cannibalised. why make an iPad as effective as a MacBook when they can cripple the OS and sell you both?

 

[theluggage]

Although I know apples profit margins are on the higher side and iPhone 16 pro is a halo/flagship product and commands a premium markup because of that

...I think you basically answered your own question.

I don't think Apple's prices have much to do with the actual bill-of-materials (beyond: don't make a loss!) and a lot more to psychological/market-driven price points - which, for Mac, have barely changed over decades*.

However, "flagship iPhone" price points have arguably gone up significantly - the original $500 one-and-only iPhone was definitely the flagship product, and while you can get a $600 iPhone today it's a cut-down "economy" model - it's the $1000+ flagship model that is aimed at the sort of customers who bought the original iPhone. C.f. the "small" iMac which has always been an entry-level system, with more powerful Macs always available. I think phone outright-purchase prices are also inflated to allow the carriers to offer attractive phone+contract bundles.

Plus, by the time this Mac comes out, there will probably be a new flagship iPhone with at least an A18 Pro++ bionic super processor - if not an A19 - and the A18 Pro will be last year's model.

I doubt that this new Mac is going to be much cheaper than an iPhone 16e or iPad Air. The point will probably be to offer a discount MacBook Air for education & Walmart - where the M1 Air is still being sold for around $650.

* easiest & starkest example is the base iMac - $1299 in 1998, $1299 in 2025 - where the name and general concept/target market have stuck the longest - but it's generally true of not just Macs but the whole PC industry, where massive real-terms bang-for-buck deflation has been the norm since the 1980s. Note also the way that most Mac "model names" kept the same or similar price points before and after the Apple Silicon transition, despite a drastic change in internal construction. Apple Silicon may have been a technical achievement but it would never have happened if it didn't also save Apple money in the medium/long term.

 

[theluggage]

As an Apple Store employee this is a product they need to scrap any idea of immediately. It’s already bad enough when people buy the entry level affordable MacBook/air and regret it within a year bc it’s tiny hard drive is full

Well, as long as they come back to the store and buy a new Mac, it's working as intended

Seriously, though, regardless of the A18 rumour, the 256GB SSD in a $1000 computer is indefensible and should have vanished along with 8GB RAM - yes, it might be enough for someone just doing "personal productivity" stuff and/or storing everything in the cloud - but SSD (even faster PCIe4 stuff) simply isn't that expensive in 2025 and doesn't need to be rationed like that. In a substantially cheaper computer 8/256 could be easier to justify (512GB, maybe using slower flash would still be better).

The underlying problem is, I think, that the M4 is massive overkill for "personal productivity" and quite capable of content creation tasks, and in recent years Apple have been relying on artificial scarcity of RAM and SSD to justify their good/better/best price points for M4 devices.

Apple BTO upgrades have always been extortionate, but with the M4 machines it has become painfully obvious that the only differences between the good/better/best models are RAM and SSD. Once you spit out the Kool Aid and realise that all you're getting for those price differences is standard LPDDR5x and PCIe4 flash then that is a very bad look.

The availability of a lower tier MacBook should be a signal to stop treating the base MBA as a Twitbook terminal and give it a decent SSD. Flap. Oink.

 

[TSE]

Great show.

I'm hoping they don't go the plastic route. I had an OG Black MacBook from 2006-2010 and plastic just doesn't hold up. on that size of a device... cracks, creaks, and discoloration.

If they happen to keep the A18 MacBook have the same build and material qualities with the other models, and it offers is a cheaper price with 2-3 day battery life, that would be an extremely interesting product for a pretty sizable market... A lot of overlap with the current chromebook markets, large scale corporations for folks who work in remote desktop environments, and schools.

 

[mlayer]

This could end up being the MacBook I recommend to my light-using extended family. They don't need more than one port to use occasionally and they might sometimes use a single external monitor. Too bad I already recommended M1 MBA the past few years, they're probably fine with that for a few more at least.

I have a couple of the old plastic MacBooks and iBooks. My fave was the somewhat rare unibody white MacBook which lasted less than a year on the market and had the rubberized bottom case that always got filthy (mine wasn't). I slapped a SATA SSD in it and it still punches way above its weight almost 16 years after it was discontinued. I wouldn't expect Apple to go this route with a new MacBook, but they have plenty of materials experience to figure out if some kind of plastic configuration can hold up in the long term.

 

[AxiomaticRubric]

Any other Mac is completely overpowered for the casual emailer and "check social media" user.
That is not a criticism, but just an observation that a lot of users would not notice any difference if they have a slightly less powerful processor.

Exactly. I’m still using a late 2020 MacBook Pro 13” and it has never failed me.

I like the newer Apple hardware a lot but I have literally zero incentive to upgrade because a nearly five-year old Mac still handles everything I need it for, quite well and with no issues.

So a 12” Macbook would probably be an upgrade in portability for me. I always adored the latest Macbook but the painfully slow, non-cooled Intel processors were a big deterrent.

It sounds to me like Apple wants to compete with Google’s Chromebooks in the education market.