Rumours are sprouting up via Apple’s manufacturing partners in Taiwan that the fruit company is working on a new MacBook that is potentially more affordable than the lineup currently on tap. Those sources to DigiTimes suggest that pricing for such a laptop would be between US$599 (~RM2,535) and US$699 (~RM2,958).
This rumour solidifies analyst Ming-Chi Kuo’s earlier predictions of a “more affordable” 13-inch MacBook in June, but wasn’t able to provide a possible pricing on it. That said, Kuo did say that such a device would likely come with watered-down specs, in order to reflect the drop in price. For context, the current iteration of the 13-inch MacBook Air starts from RM4,499, while the top-of-the-line model costs RM9,599.
Specifically, the “affordable” 13-inch MacBook may run with an A18 Pro SoC, the same chipset used in the iPhone 16 Pro, instead of the more powerful M4 chipset designed for the Mac lineup. For that matter, we could be looking at a laptop running on far less RAM, which isn’t unexpected, as other laptop manufacturers do the same in order to keep manufacturing costs low. Additionally, DigiTimes says that the new 13-inch MacBook may have a 12.9-inch display, which is smaller than the 13.6-inch MacBook Air.
As for when Apple may release the more cost-efficient 13-inch MacBook, Kuo says that final assembly of the alleged laptop may take place sometime during the fourth quarter of this year, with commercial availability set either for late 2025 or early 2026.
(Source: MacRumors, Tom’s Hardware)
