The MacRumors Show: Apple's Plan to Launch Low-Cost MacBook With iPhone Chip

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On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss Apple's apparent plan to launch a low-cost MacBook powered by an iPhone chip.

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Earlier this week, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple is set to launch an all-new "affordable" MacBook powered by an iPhone chip. The machine is expected to feature a 13-inch display, the A18 Pro chip, and color options that include silver, blue, pink, and yellow. MacRumors first spotted evidence of such a device in backend code related to Apple Intelligence last summer, and subsequently confirmed its use of the A18 Pro chip. The machine features the identifier "Mac17,1."

This would be the first Mac powered by an ‌iPhone‌ chip. To date, all Apple silicon Macs have contained M-series chips, which offer higher core counts, support for larger amounts of memory, and better external display support. The A18 Pro chip debuted in the iPhone 16 Pro last year.

With the A18 Pro chip, the device is highly unlikely to feature Thunderbolt ports, more than 8GB of unified memory, and support for more than one external display. In line with how Apple tends to handle its other low-cost devices, the new MacBook could re-use the design and chassis of an older machine like the M1 MacBook Air to keep costs down and differentiate it from the MacBook Air. Apple could also revive the simple "MacBook" moniker, separating it from the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, and mirroring the iPad lineup, which simply has the iPad as the entry-level model.

According to Kuo, the new MacBook is expected to enter mass production late in the fourth quarter of 2025 or early in the first quarter of 2026, which situates launch in the first half of next year.

We also discuss Apple's broader low-cost device strategy, how it seems to be positioning its device lineups going forward, and more. The MacRumors Show has its own YouTube channel, so make sure you're subscribed to keep up with new episodes and clips.

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If you haven't already listened to the previous episode of The MacRumors Show, catch up to hear is talk through through the changes introduced in the second developer beta of iOS 26.

Subscribe to The MacRumors Show for new episodes every week, where we discuss some of the topical news breaking here on MacRumors, often joined by interesting guests such as Kevin Nether, John Gruber, Mark Gurman, Jon Prosser, Luke Miani, Matthew Cassinelli, Brian Tong, Quinn Nelson, Jared Nelson, Eli Hodapp, Mike Bell, Sara Dietschy, iJustine, Jon Rettinger, Andru Edwards, Arnold Kim, Ben Sullins, Marcus Kane, Christopher Lawley, Frank McShan, David Lewis, Tyler Stalman, Sam Kohl, Federico Viticci, Thomas Frank, Jonathan Morrison, Ross Young, Ian Zelbo, and Rene Ritchie.

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Top Rated Comments

R
ricketysquire
8 months ago
It would be cool if they brought back the 12 inch MacBooks with this chip. Just with a better keyboard and more ports. The perfect budget MacBook for everyone, small, light, portable and affordable.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Wando64 Avatar
Wando64
8 months ago
Any other Mac is completely overpowered for the casual emailer and "check social media" user.
That is not a criticism, but just an observation that a lot of users would not notice any difference if they have a slightly less powerful processor.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
turbineseaplane Avatar
turbineseaplane
8 months ago
I just hope we don't look back on this as the beginning of the end of the Mac.

The "real" Mac & macOS I mean ...

i.e. a fully fledged, open, flexible and powerful desktop OS.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
T
theluggage
8 months ago

I just hope we don't look back on this as the beginning of the end of the Mac.

The "real" Mac & macOS I mean ...

i.e. a real, fully fledged, open, flexible and powerful desktop OS.
Nah. That was when they switched from 68k to PPC.
Or possibly when they dropped classic MacOS in favour of NeXTStep.
Wait, no, it was definitely when they switched from PPC to Intel.
Or, hold on, switching from Intel to ARM would absolutely make the Mac into a giant iPhone.

If Apple want to lock down MacOS like iOS, they don't need to change the processor.
It's probably easier and more secure/effective on Apple Silicon (after all, the iPad Pro does it) or at least on Intel machines with the T2 chip, but it doesn't really need any hardware at all. As of Tahoe, all supported Macs will have either Apple Silicon or T2 (I think the 2019 iMac was the last non-T2 Intel machine) and as of the next MacOS, Intel will be gone.

If/when Apple decide it's time to lock down MacOS they can pretty much just do it with the next software update. That would cause a massive kerfuffle, of course...

We don't know if this new "MacBook" will ship with some sort of "MacOS Lite" - so far there is no suggestion of that. We're just looking at no Thunderbolt/USB4 and (I think) no hardware virtualisation - not a major handicap for an entry-level machine aimed at "personal productivity" and nothing that requires gutting MacOS. Those are similar restrictions to the A12Z Apple Silicon Developer Transition Kit, which reportedly ran an otherwise full MacOS (although it only got support for a few months). Most of the restrictions in iOS - and certainly iPadOS - are imposed by software rather than hardware.

As the article and others have speculated - this is likely just the "Walmart Mac" to replace the M1 version & reflecting the fact that the M4 is now a massive overkill for "personal productivity" users.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
T
tipoo
8 months ago

Your 2014 MBP cost $3k+ in 2014 dollars. Now we are waffling over a stronger box priced at less than a third of the cost of your 2014 15". Sounds like huge value add over time regardless of whatever details we may be "still waffling over this lol."
And how much has that extra 8GB of RAM cost over the last 11 years

It should have already been the standard, but I'm glad Apple Intelligence finally forced it

Spot the Tim Cook takeover

https://gagadget.com/media/uploads/all-in-one-base-ram-chart.jpg

Never got you people who argue for us to get less. RAM has become incredibly cheap and Apple's Unified Memory isn't some magic memory printed in gold, it's standard LPDDR modules from Samsung and so on like everyone else gets. RAM is the reason many of the people sold the like of "it doesn't matter on Apple Silicon" had to upgrade again early, it's the reason many iPhones and iPads started feeling pokey early even though their chips were impressive, Apple under Cook has been uber frugal with this. Again, at least AI forced at least a baseline good capacity now.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dan110 Avatar
dan110
8 months ago

Apple has a demonstrably profitable mission: premium products at a premium price, and their sales and market capitalization don't lie: Apple users like us are willing to pay the price for that quality. I'm firmly opposed to Apple trying to go "down market" with a cheapo Mac. And if you seem to believe releasing a cheaper version of the same old laptop is innovation, I beg to differ. Respectfully. I miss those days when Jobs conceived "insanely great" new ideas before we even knew we wanted them. But people like Jobs don't grow on trees.
That mission is coming to an end. Consumer Capitalism is going through a controlled demolition and will be for another generation. People aren't going to be splurging on expensive i-Toys when they can't pay rent, buy food, and start families. Apple has to right size in order to address this goobal demographic change. This is in addition to the neo balkanization of global technology. They won't be able to bank on the European and Asian consumer markets that are pulling away from American technology.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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