I can’t imagine this happening. We saw the iPad go in the other direction, switching from the A-series to the M-series. If anything, I could more easily image the iPhone Pro models using an M-series chip at some point in the future to enable more power-user features.
Right—forgot about that rumor. Still feels weird to me, given that the iPhones that use the A19 Pro start at $999, and the bill of materials for the MacBook Air is higher than that of an iPhone 16 Pro. I found estimates suggesting that the A18 Pro would cost $50–$60, whereas an M3 might be $80–$120. So that’s a significant savings, but not something that brings the MacBook cost down hundreds of dollars.
But hey, who knows—maybe Apple wants to do a cheap MacBook that’s the equivalent of the cheap iPad (which is pretty much the only place the company does that).
I’ve been hearing about these rumors for quite a while already. According to Kuo by late this year or early next, we should know.
Honestly, I’m not sure I see the appeal. Apple sells a $599 M1 MBA (via Walmart) and a regular $999 MBA. I just don’t see how using an A18 over some binned M-whatever (or surplus M1s) is going to save them that much money. But perhaps this is all just marketing. They need something to compete with Chromebooks and so it has to be cheap to manufacture but also seriously downspec’ed compared to their usual MBA to make the case for upsell. Enter the neutered A18 MB. A meh screen and 10 Gbps USB-C are perhaps minor details if OTOH that’s what gets people a portable Mac for cheap. The Mac mini started the same way.
That would be a radically different marketing direction for Apple to embark upon, which is part of why I have a hard time believing the rumors too.
Yes, I think they’re quite comfortable with the market position of the MacBooks. I can’t see how a cheap one would be of use to them. Doesn’t look like much savings and margin would have to be thin and… what impact would such a Mac have on the existing lower range?
I’m also sceptical but would buy one in a heartbeat provided it ran Mac OS. I’d use it purely as an overseas travel machine. Small, light and cheap if lost or damaged.
The last two years of my youngest child’s schooling was done on Chromebooks - I guess the education market presents an opportunity for a lower cost version.
There’s some speculation that Apple is looking to add touch screen functions to macOS and that iPad sales are, at best, stagnant. So one scenario is Apple discontinues iPads and launches an entry-level priced A-series MacBook that is a Mac-iPad hybrid of sorts. Apple could then also ramp down development of iPadOS. This could be part of a new direction for the Apple eco-system, with the rumored HomePod “robot”, the iPhone Fold, and the A-MacBook as the key products.
Maybe - but the rumors of a touch-screen Mac suggest it’s coming to the MacBook Pro, not this low-cost rumored product with an A series processor.
I’d hope that if this was the case, though, that it would come with cellular on Mac, finally, as I always get (and frequently use) cellular on iPad.