Comply with ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.
ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Apple could possibly be creating a brand new budget-friendly MacBook for round $599.
- Rumors state it could home an A18 Professional chipset — the processor discovered within the iPhone 16 Professional.
- Regardless of corroboration by business specialists, data is speculative.
This summer time, rumors beginning surfacing that Apple was creating a light-weight MacBook operating on iPhone {hardware}. Notable Apple insider Ming-Chi Kuo supported the rumors in a post on X in July, claiming the corporate was at present engaged on a “more-affordable MacBook” operating on the A18 Professional chipset — the identical one discovered within the iPhone 16 Pro — as an alternative of an M-series processor.
Additionally: Should you upgrade to M5 MacBook Pro from an M1? How the numbers add up
Tech information web site DigiTimes claims to have lately spoken to an insider with intimate information of this laptop computer, suggesting the system will price someplace between $599 and $699: less expensive than the M4 MacBook Air’s beginning worth of $999.
Much more notable is the alleged timing of such a product: probably releasing this fall, simply as thousands and thousands of PC customers are searching for a brand new pc with Microsoft pulling the plug on help for Home windows 10.
(Much more) light-weight
DigiTimes studies this new MacBook will sport a 12.9-inch show, barely smaller than the MacBook Air’s 13-inch display. What’s attention-grabbing is that this measurement carefully correlates with what Kuo mentioned earlier this yr.
In truth, a lot of the data instructed to DigiTimes traces up with Kuo wrote. In accordance with the report, parts might enter “mass manufacturing” by the tip of Q3 2025 (someday in September). Then, the laptop computer will develop into “commercially obtainable” by both late 2025 or early 2026, which, as MacRumors factors out, is “just like [Ming Chi Kuo’s] launch estimation.”
Additionally: Apple just launched an M5 MacBook, iPad, and Vision Pro: Specs, prices, and availability
Particulars, nevertheless, stay scarce. There’s a lot we do not know, however it’s price mentioning that the long run MacBook is rumored to launch in quite a lot of colours, together with Pink, Blue, Silver, and Yellow, breaking the mould of what MacBooks seem like.
Excellent timing
Home windows 10 help officially ended on October 14, 2025 as Microsoft goals to push customers to Home windows 11. If this laptop computer hits the market in November or December, not solely wouldn’t it be in the midst of the vacation season, however may show completely irresistible to Home windows 10 customers searching for a brand new system with out all of the bloat or pointless options. That mentioned, it most likely will not be an ideal system.
MacRumors mentions the very fact “that the A19 professional chip lacks Thunderbolt help”, which means the long run MacBook may solely have common USB-C ports. Thunderbolt ports have distinctive options like the power to ship out video indicators to a number of screens concurrently and lightning-fast knowledge switch speeds.
That could possibly be a dealbreaker for some, however the introduction of a low-cost MacBook cheaper than the Air could also be too alluring to disregard.
The laptop computer is not the one rumored mission. Kuo additionally claimed that Apple is engaged on a pair of good glasses set to launch in 2027. This pair will reportedly operate equally to Meta Ray-Bans, because it will not have a heads up show. Nonetheless, he instructed the glasses will present audio playback, file video, and help “AI environmental sensing”, with a number of materials and magnificence choices.
On the lookout for the subsequent finest product? Get professional evaluations and editor favorites with ZDNET Recommends.
