Cheaper MacBook powered by iPhone chip coming in 2026, per new report

[hyperhello]

I don’t really get it, from a consumer perspective, unless the idea is mass education sales. They already sell enough Macs for economy of scale to kick in.

Calling it an iPhone processor doesn’t explain anything by itself, and wouldn’t save much money. Is the screen cheaper? The keyboard? The SSD?

I suppose the point would be to farm and beta test a base of new, cheaper, slower, less reliable components, and then find the path to making them acceptable for retail.

[_fzslm]

There is a gap in Apple's offerings. Casual computer users like students probably can't justify dropping nearly a K on a MacBook, so they go for these 400-600$ dell/hp laptops, or a Chromebook. This fits that hole.

iPhone processor is surely cheaper from an economies of scale perspective, they are likely way easier to produce en masse and they already produce bajillions of them for the iPhone.

Over time the price of even a high quality LCD like on the existing MacBook Air will have decreased enormously. Apple is setting up to move to OLED on the rest of the line, so using existing LCD tech is likely to save a lot too

[bitwize]

Apple used to rule mass education sales by offering steep discounts on the Apple II line, a pricey option for home users, to schools. Their latest effort along that line was the eMac, an early 2000s all-in-one similar to the original iMac but done in inoffensive opaque white, whose spirit still remains with us as many Hackernews inadvertently let their iPhones autocorrect "Emacs" to "eMacs". The eMac was originally for the educational market but after a few months Apple would make it available to everyone. It'd be nice to see Apple target education again, though admittedly mainly for nostalgia's sake and as a hedge against data thieves like Google.

[nickthegreek]

My mom would never drop $1k on a laptop. Gen alpha is doesn't seem to have a mass interest in computers that aren't just Screen. A $1k entry point is basically a nonstarter for many people. Apple would be wise to reuse their older tech to devour the $500 laptop market.

[organsnyder]

My kid's high school provides each student with a MacBook while they're enrolled. I'm sure they'd be an ideal market for this.

[tim333]

I might be a buyer for something like that. I carry a laptop all the time so small and light is good, and mostly use it for web stuff and word/excel so nothing too demanding performance wise. I've got an M1 Air now but miss the size and weight of the 11" Air.

[somethoughts]

I think the reverse offering on the Apple device roadmap would be interesting.

A MacPad and a MacPhone. Given its eventually going to be completely the same silicon this would enable them to offer a non App Store experience for people who want to experiment with alternative app stores like Epic.

In that way they could keep the average Apple target iPhone/iPad customer within the walled garden of iOS while being able to point specifically to EU regulators that they are allowing alternative app stores on the MacPhone/MacPad platform.

[etchalon]

The "MacPad" already exists. It's called the iPad Pro. It uses the M5 chip.

[freedomben]

Offering something like that would be tantamount to admitting that they were wrong (or lying) about their motivation for locking the system down with no user choice, that it's for the protection of the user. I don't see that happening.

[kristianp]

Surprising to read the the original M1 Air is still sold through Walmart.

[jrockway]

Honestly, I'm not even an Apple fangirl and that thing is a great computer. I bought one for work and it served me better than any other $999 computer ever did. It's apparently $599 now? Great value, in my opinion.

[endemic]

Amazon is selling them new for $440; refurb at Best Buy for $330.

[risingsubmarine]

An 11" version of this proposed A-series chip Macbook is exactly what I would want to see, and would more likely expect to see from Apple's sales perspective, than an iPad that is capable of running MacOS.

A tiny Macbook that I can slip into a sling bag is more preferable to me than an iPad for many tasks.

[trial3]

yup: i would instantly buy something like this if it ran full macOS

[gchamonlive]

Interesting. If they'll come with a cutdown version of the os like the iPads, it'll limit the target audience and the success of the device. On the other hand if it'll be powered by a fully fledged MacOS it'll make it more arbitrary the decision not to have the same features on iPads.

[CamJN]

I think that ship has sailed. They already make iPads (the pro line) with M-class processors just like the laptops that run full-featured macOS. This change is to add laptops that run A-class processors like run the iPhone. If all Apple cared about with regards to what capabilities they expose in an OS was what processor was in a device then the iPad Pros would be able to run macOS, but they don’t view their products that way.

[brendoelfrendo]

I already have an M3-powered iPad Air; Apple currently produces iPad hardware that could, theoretically, run full MacOS. The decision is already about as arbitrary as it gets.

[pqtyw]

Why? There are already iPads and iPhones more expensive that Macs and Apple is not trying to justify anything. The capabilities of the OS have nothing to do with the chip of course.

[znpy]

It would be nice to see a renaissance of 12” laptops

[Gualdrapo]

I think by "cheaper" they mean "just a tiny bit less expensive"

[vondur]

How much difference is there between an M4 chip and something like the A18 regarding pricing? I assume a lower end screen and maybe a plastic body would reduce the price further.

[geodel]

Phone Chip/Plastic Body/12" 3:2 or 4:3 screen/~400 dollar. I see my family as a customer for it.

[rasz]

Arent M4 Airs already $800 on sale? Im afraid the low end model will again push 8GB ram.

[rcarmo]

At this rate, someday the iPad will be the more powerful “computer” by default :)

[bluescrn]

Yet something like the Raspberry Pi will still have more 'power' to actually get useful things done, as it's not chained to an App Store, allows you to compile code, etc

[epolanski]

What's the point?

This would only cannibalize their higher tier sales with a low margin product. I don't get it.

This company is visionless.

[Reason077]

People who buy high-end MacBook Pros are still going to buy MacBook Pros. The idea here is to pick up sales that would otherwise go to cheaper PC laptop brands, by competing at a lower price point than the MacBook Air currently does.

Right now, Apple still (quietly) sells the MacBook Air M1 at $599 to keep a toe in that lower-end market, but I doubt many people who are considering a Pro or an M4 Air are persuaded to choose that instead.

[ggm]

They're anything but visionless. This is a departure from an upwards sell trajectory but if it sold in volumes, it goes to the classic quote "quantity has a quality all of it's own" -usually taken in context it means giving up the quality drive, but in reality it's neutral to the other product line.

It may cannibalize SOME of the existing market, yes. all of it? I don't think my peers on M4 boxes with 32GB+ are going to go for this any more than they did when the Air came out and they had powerful boxes.

[ruralfam]

Not disagreeing re: vision for quality software and new products. However this segmentation is pretty good. Most everyone buying a Macbook today wants "M" performance. Most everyone who does not care about "benchmarks" and is price sensitive (likely a surprisingly large number of folks), is put off by MB pricing. So you gimp the processor, lower the price, take a bit of a margin hit on net profit for hware, but capture lots of sales and canabalize virtually no "M" sales. Plus I would guess the Apple has done enough market analysis to understand that the folks buying this new Macbook are likely to want to subscribe to something Apple offers which will offset the lower hware margin.

[spurgu]

It doesn't change anything with their higher tier sales. Those are bought for a reason that a lower tier device cannot satisfy.

My worry (from Apple's POV) is that all the people who buy the cheapest Mac (currently for $1k) will instead go for this new "base model". And I suspect there's a large cohort of people who "just want a Mac".

[tim333]

I'm guessing firstly it won't be a lot cheaper and secondly it may appeal to the very large number of people who buy cheaper windows laptops.

[whynotminot]

Maybe they should only offer MacBook Pros, then.

[walterbell]

Google is converging ChromeOS and Android in 2026 Qualcomm Arm laptops by HP, Dell, Lenovo, etc.

[phantasmish]

Probably to take back a bunch of the education market, which was lost to Chromebooks.

[zekrioca]

Yes, Apple is visionless.

[baq]

creative destruction at work.

[amelius]

More locked down nanny-ware from Apple. Why the excitement?

[whynotminot]

It’s always funny to me when people on hackernews assume that all technology created is intended for their use.