Apple Unveils its Cheapest MacBook yet

The MacBook Neo is the first Apple laptop powered by a chip commonly used in the iPhone and is priced from $599. The launch represents a new effort to attract Windows and Chromebook users and boost growth as ongoing component shortages continue to affect the broader market.

John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, described the MacBook Neo as a “completely new” device that was built “from the ground up” during an event held in New York on Wednesday.

The iPhone remains Apple’s primary source of revenue, followed by its fast-growing services segment and its wearables division. However, Mac computers continue to play an essential role in keeping iPhone and Apple Watch users deeply integrated within Apple’s broader ecosystem of devices and digital services. With the launch of the MacBook Neo, Apple appears to be departing from its traditional strategy by targeting more price-sensitive consumers—an area the company has historically left largely to PC and Chromebook manufacturers.

Compared to Apple’s other MacBooks, the Neo has a smaller screen, less memory and is available in brighter color options, including a new “citrus” yellow.

What most clearly distinguishes the MacBook Neo from Apple’s other MacBook models, beyond its lower price point, is that it runs on Apple’s A18 Pro processor, a chip similar to the one that powers the iPhone 16 Pro. This marks the first time Apple has used one of its smartphone chips to power a laptop.

Apple’s ability to run its Mac operating system on a processor originally designed for mobile devices highlights the advantage of controlling both hardware and software within a single ecosystem, according to Jitesh Ubrani, a research manager at the International Data Corporation. In contrast, most PC manufacturers focus primarily on designing and producing hardware while relying on operating systems developed by others, such as Microsoft’s Windows or Google’s Chrome OS. Microsoft itself remains a relatively small participant in PC hardware through its Surface laptop line.

Apple is not the world’s largest computer vendor. That position is held by Lenovo, which controlled 27.2% of the global market by the end of 2025, while Apple held a 9.4% share, according to data from Gartner.