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Cheaper MacBook powered by iPhone chip coming in 2026, per new report

9to5mac.com

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Re: Cheaper MacBook powered by iPhone chip coming in 2026, per new report

#51

Post by ruralfam »

epolanski wrote: post #23

What's the point? This would only cannibalize their higher tier sales with a low margin product. I don't get it. This company is visionless.

Not disagreeing re: vision for quality software and new products. However this segmentation is pretty good. Most everyone buying a Macbook today wants "M" performance. Most everyone who does not care about "benchmarks" and is price sensitive (likely a surprisingly large number of folks), is put off by MB pricing. So you gimp the processor, lower the price, take a bit of a margin hit on net profit for hware, but capture lots of sales and canabalize virtually no "M" sales. Plus I would guess the Apple has done enough market analysis to understand that the folks buying this new Macbook are likely to want to subscribe to something Apple offers which will offset the lower hware margin.

Re: Cheaper MacBook powered by iPhone chip coming in 2026, per new report

#52

Post by phantasmish »

epolanski wrote: post #23

What's the point? This would only cannibalize their higher tier sales with a low margin product. I don't get it. This company is visionless.

Probably to take back a bunch of the education market, which was lost to Chromebooks.

Re: Cheaper MacBook powered by iPhone chip coming in 2026, per new report

#53

Post by somethoughts »

freedomben wrote: post #33
somethoughts wrote: post #16

I think the reverse offering on the Apple device roadmap would be interesting. A MacPad and a MacPhone. Given its eventually going to be completely the same silicon this would enable them to offer a non App Store experience for people who want to experiment with alternative app stores like Epic. In that way they could keep the average Apple target iPhone/iPad customer within the walled garden of iOS while being able…

Offering something like that would be tantamount to admitting that they were wrong (or lying) about their motivation for locking the system down with no user choice, that it's for the protection of the user. I don't see that happening.

Interestingly it's popularity or unpopularity would prove out two things - both of which are somewhat of a win win for Apple:

1.) If MacPhone/MacPad is popular then it would prove that there does exist a currently untapped, unaddressed market who wants Apple HW and are willing to pay a premium but do not want the locked down iOS garden which means more money for minimal effort.

2.) If MacPhone/MacPad is unpopular then it would prove that their motivation and hypothesis was correct - people do indeed come to Apple and pay the premium precisely for the walled garden and the convenience it affords.

If its indeed unpopular you could keep it around for a couple of years as an EU regulatory compliance device. Then you can say to any future regulator who wants to tear down the iOS walled garden - we tried that back in 2026 and nobody wanted it.

Re: Cheaper MacBook powered by iPhone chip coming in 2026, per new report

#54

Post by pqtyw »

gchamonlive wrote: post #48
pqtyw wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? There are already iPads and iPhones more expensive that Macs and Apple is not trying to justify anything. The capabilities of the OS have nothing to do with the chip of course.

If you think this is worth the investment in the ecosystem go for it. It just makes me quite sceptical to touch anything apple. I don't think they have their customers best interest in mind, and it shows time and again. Not a big fan of this paternalistic approach to product design, but this is just me.

Go for what? I would just find it surprising if they release a laptop which is running anything but Mac OS. You can already get an iPad with a keyboard and a touchpad anyway...

> have their customers best interest in mind, and it shows time and again.

Of course, neither does Dell, Lenovo or HP. Or especially Google for that matter (at least in that case Apple's and their customers interests somewhat align since they aren't making money by selling their data to third parties).

Re: Cheaper MacBook powered by iPhone chip coming in 2026, per new report

#55

Post by gchamonlive »

pqtyw wrote: post #54
gchamonlive wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think this is worth the investment in the ecosystem go for it. It just makes me quite sceptical to touch anything apple. I don't think they have their customers best interest in mind, and it shows time and again. Not a big fan of this paternalistic approach to product design, but this is just me.

Go for what? I would just find it surprising if they release a laptop which is running anything but Mac OS. You can already get an iPad with a keyboard and a touchpad anyway... > have their customers best interest in mind, and it shows time and again. Of course, neither does Dell, Lenovo or HP. Or especially Google for that matter (at least in that case Apple's and their customers interests somewhat align since they…

Sorry, I should have said if it makes sense for people they should go for it, I just find it weird to cripple devices like that just for the sake of market segmentation.

Re: Cheaper MacBook powered by iPhone chip coming in 2026, per new report

#57

Post by laurencerowe »

Retric wrote: post #35
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is a gap in Apple's offerings. Casual computer users like students probably can't justify dropping nearly a K on a MacBook, so they go for these 400-600$ dell/hp laptops, or a Chromebook. This fits that hole. I could say the same about their cell phone lineup. If I have $400 to spend on a phone, what can I get from Apple? A $400 iPhone would certainly increase market share--but Apple does not seem to want tha…

Without trade in AT&T has iPhone 16 @ 11$/month * 36 months = 396$. iPhone 16e @ 6$/month * 36 months = 216$. https://www.att.com/buy/phones/browse/apple/ Without any contracts an unlocked (renewed) iPhone 15 through Amazon 400 - 500$.

That off requires committing to a $65/month plan for 36 months instead of paying $25/month with someone like Visible for an equivalent plan. So really you're paying $1836 for that iPhone 16.

Re: Cheaper MacBook powered by iPhone chip coming in 2026, per new report

#58

Post by tim333 »

hyperhello wrote: post #4

I don’t really get it, from a consumer perspective, unless the idea is mass education sales. They already sell enough Macs for economy of scale to kick in. Calling it an iPhone processor doesn’t explain anything by itself, and wouldn’t save much money. Is the screen cheaper? The keyboard? The SSD? I suppose the point would be to farm and beta test a base of new, cheaper, slower, less reliable components, and then fin…

I might be a buyer for something like that. I carry a laptop all the time so small and light is good, and mostly use it for web stuff and word/excel so nothing too demanding performance wise. I've got an M1 Air now but miss the size and weight of the 11" Air.

Re: Cheaper MacBook powered by iPhone chip coming in 2026, per new report

#59

Post by tim333 »

epolanski wrote: post #23

What's the point? This would only cannibalize their higher tier sales with a low margin product. I don't get it. This company is visionless.

I'm guessing firstly it won't be a lot cheaper and secondly it may appeal to the very large number of people who buy cheaper windows laptops.

Re: Cheaper MacBook powered by iPhone chip coming in 2026, per new report

#60

Post by Retric »

laurencerowe wrote: post #57
Retric wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without trade in AT&T has iPhone 16 @ 11$/month * 36 months = 396$. iPhone 16e @ 6$/month * 36 months = 216$. https://www.att.com/buy/phones/browse/apple/ Without any contracts an unlocked (renewed) iPhone 15 through Amazon 400 - 500$.

That off requires committing to a $65/month plan for 36 months instead of paying $25/month with someone like Visible for an equivalent plan. So really you're paying $1836 for that iPhone 16.

Hardly, you could do a one time payment of 500$ in a new iPhone 16e or 730$ for a iPhone 16 with AT&T’s prepaid annual 20$/month plan. https://www.att.com/buy/prepaid-phones/browse/apple/

There’s no free lunch here, cheap plans are noticeably worse in various ways, but like cable companies carriers don’t want to give you a good plan without bundling phone upgrades.

Visible’s $25/month plan mentions unlimited Hotspot for example, but good luck finding they always cap you at 5 Mbits on their website. Suddenly it makes more sense why someone might bump up to their $45/month plan for 3x the Hotspot speed. Even then 15Mbps isn’t that bad, but it’s a long way from 5G could provide.

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