Is there a cheap MacBook in October or November? The rumor mill believes in it and claims that Apple is planning a renaissance of the 12-inch device from Intel times-only this time with inexpensive but fast Apple-Silicon processor. It is said to be an enlarged entry -level model, which may be slightly enlarged to 13 inches, which may appear together with an iPad Pro M5.
Apart from the cheap model, the second half of the year should be rather uninteresting with regard to Macs: According to the usually well-informed Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman, Apple has postponed its first M5 Macs to the coming year. This applies in particular to the MacBook Pro models that were last overtaken in autumn 2024. However, a Mac Mini M5 or an iMac M5 also considered conceivable, while a MacBook Air with the new SOC is not to be expected before May 2026. But now there seems to be only one new Mac until the end of 2025.
iPhone chip in the MacBook: easily feasible
According to the rumor mill, Apple has to keep the price low, to install an iPhone chip into an Mac for the second time. The one in Apple Intelligence in the backend code “Mac17.1” Described computer apparently comes with the A18 processor from the iPhone 16, which was launched for the first time in September 2024. It is still unclear whether it is the PRO version from the Pro and Pro Max models. This comes with a total of Six CPU and GPU cores- possibly Apple reduces their number (so-called binning) for the new MacBook. It can still be expected that Apple installs at least 16 GB of RAM. (Apple’s first iPhone chip in a Mac was in the Mac Mini for developers, shortly after Apple was announced.)
The A18 Pro is sufficiently fast: it beats Apple’s M1, which was praised many times five years ago, in the Geekbench multi-core benchmark for at least 800 points. In the egg cylinder, there are even over 1000 points. This should meet for common standard applications on a MacBook. This applies in particular if you remember the old 12-inch MacBook. The fanless Core M chips from Intel (later also slimmed down i5 and i7 processors) quickly sweat.
The $ 1000-US brand
In terms of price, Apple could land at less than $ 1,000, even $ 800 or $ 900 would be in it (euro prices as usual) if the group wants that. The hardware has to differ from the MacBook Air, which is also comparatively compact and is also sold as a 13-inch model.
That means: The new MacBook should be flatter and more compact overall. At the 12-inch MacBook, Apple had placed the particularly thin but also unreliable butterfly keyboard. The group should not repeat that. However, he could orientate himself on the construction, in which the keyboard was almost borderless in the housing. The built-in LC screen is likely to be a standard screen off the shelf. A matt nanotexture display is rather not to be expected.
Discover more from Apple News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.