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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Apple might be growing a brand new budget-friendly MacBook for round $599.
- Rumors state it might home an A18 Professional chipset — the processor discovered within the iPhone 16 Professional.
- Regardless of corroboration by trade consultants, info is speculative.
This summer season, rumors beginning surfacing that Apple was growing a light-weight MacBook working 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” working on the A18 Professional chipset — the identical one discovered within the iPhone 16 Pro — as a substitute of an M-series processor.
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Tech information web site DigiTimes claims to have not too long ago spoken to an insider with intimate information of this laptop computer, suggesting the gadget will value 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 tens of millions of PC customers are in search of a brand new pc with Microsoft pulling the plug on assist for Home windows 10.
(Much more) light-weight
DigiTimes stories 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 dimension carefully correlates with what Kuo mentioned earlier this yr.
Actually, a lot of the knowledge advised to DigiTimes strains up with Kuo wrote. In response to the report, elements might enter “mass manufacturing” by the top of Q3 2025 (someday in September). Then, the laptop computer will grow to be “commercially out there” by both late 2025 or early 2026, which, as MacRumors factors out, is “just like [Ming Chi Kuo’s] launch estimation.”
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Particulars, nevertheless, stay scarce. There’s a lot we do not know, however it’s value mentioning that the longer term MacBook is rumored to launch in a wide range of colours, together with Pink, Blue, Silver, and Yellow, breaking the mildew of what MacBooks appear to be.
Excellent timing
Home windows 10 assist 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 would it not be in the midst of the vacation season, however may show completely irresistible to Home windows 10 customers in search of a brand new gadget with out all of the bloat or pointless options. That mentioned, it most likely will not be an ideal gadget.
MacRumors mentions the actual fact “that the A19 professional chip lacks Thunderbolt assist”, which means the longer term MacBook might solely have common USB-C ports. Thunderbolt ports have distinctive options like the flexibility to ship out video alerts to a number of screens concurrently and lightning-fast knowledge switch speeds.
That might 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 sensible glasses set to launch in 2027. This pair will reportedly perform equally to Meta Ray-Bans, because it will not have a heads up show. Nonetheless, he recommended the glasses will present audio playback, file video, and assist “AI environmental sensing”, with a number of materials and elegance choices.
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