Apple Faces 'Massive Dilemma' With Success of the MacBook Neo (macrumors.com)
- Reference: 0181404560
- News link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/26/04/07/2157238/apple-faces-massive-dilemma-with-success-of-the-macbook-neo
- Source link: https://www.macrumors.com/2026/04/07/macbook-neo-massive-dilemma/
> The all-new MacBook Neo has been such a hit that Apple is facing a "massive dilemma," according to Taiwan-based tech columnist and former Bloomberg reporter Tim Culpan. [...] In the latest edition of his [3]Culpium newsletter today, Culpan said the MacBook Neo is selling so well that Apple's supply of the binned A18 Pro chips with a 5-core GPU will "run out" before the company is able to fully satisfy demand for the laptop. Apple's initial plan was to have suppliers build around five to six million MacBook Neo units before ceasing production of the model with the A18 Pro chip, he said, but it sounds like demand is so strong that Apple might run out of A18 Pro chips to put in the MacBook Neo before the second-generation MacBook Neo with an A19 Pro chip is ready next year. Apple is unlikely to mark the MacBook Neo as temporarily sold out, so it may be forced to take action, but profit margins might be affected.
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> A18 Pro chips are manufactured with TSMC's second-generation 3nm process, known as N3E, and Culpan said TSMC's N3E production lines are currently operating at maximum capacity. As a result, he said that Apple may have to pay a premium to restart A18 Pro chip production for the MacBook Neo, which would lower its profit margins. Apple would have to disable a GPU core on these chips to ensure that they have only a 5-core GPU, like all other MacBook Neo units sold to date. Alternatively, Culpan said that Apple could reallocate some of its chip production that was originally planned for other devices, but he said the cost would still be higher than what it paid for its initial batch of A18 Pro chips.
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> Culpan speculated that Apple could also opt to discontinue the $599 model with 256GB of storage, leaving the $699 model with 512GB of storage and a Touch ID button as the only configuration available. This is unlikely to happen any time soon, in our view, given how heavily Apple has been promoting the MacBook Neo's affordability. Apple might also be able to move up the release of a MacBook Neo with the iPhone 17 Pro's A19 Pro chip, but that too would be a costlier option, at least until the company achieves a sufficient stockpile of binned A19 Pro chips with a 5-core GPU. In any case, Apple could opt to keep the starting price of current and future MacBook Neo models at $599 and simply accept lower profit margins on the laptop, especially given that it attracts customers to the macOS and broader Apple ecosystem.
[1] https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/26/03/04/1624211/apple-announces-low-cost-macbook-neo-with-a18-pro-chip
[2] https://www.macrumors.com/2026/04/07/macbook-neo-massive-dilemma/
[3] https://www.culpium.com/p/apple-in-talks-to-boost-mac-neo-production
Built from leftover parts (Score:3)
Imagine the conversation in the boardroom:
" It's nearly 100% profit. We built it out of leftover parts! "
" They are selling out -we need to make more. "
" ...shit. We are running out of leftover parts. "
" Call it a 'Limited Edition' and double the price. "
Re: (Score:2)
I'd imagine that they'll just discontinue the $599 model and put new A18 Pro chips with a GPU core disabled in the $699 model until it's time to upgrade to a new $699 model with the A19 Pro and 12 GB of RAM.
Sure, it would be nice if they didn't needlessly disable that 6th core, but Apple is probably already losing M5 Macbook Air sales from this thing as it is.
Re: (Score:3)
Totally different business but exactly the same problem. Nordstrom generally has the latest trend clothes in fashion and pretty good quality; it's known for it. But when it had leftover inventory it knew there were people a step down from their target demographic that would love Nordstrom's quality products even if they're a season or two out of fashion for cheaper, so they opened Nordstrom's Rack to sell off the excess inventory.
Nordstrom's Rack got so popular they couldn't keep it stocked, and eventu
Re: (Score:2)
This is not unintended consequences. This is the discount store model.
Sounds like a good problem to have (Score:3)
Apple has rarely dipped into the mass markets before now when it came to computers, the Mac mini being the rare exception, which was just a little too nerdy (needing your left over keyboard, mouse, and monitor) to actually be a mass market product. Maybe the success of their mass market non-computer stuff has helped them dip a toe in the waters.
In any case, I'm happy they're trying it and having the right kinds of problems.
Re: (Score:2)
Apple //c?
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$1,295. In 1984. Wouldn't even qualify as mass market today, but in 1984... phew. To put it in perspective, by then you could get IBM PC clones for under $1,000.
Re: Sounds like a good problem to have (Score:1)
Apple will likely conclude it's a bad situation. Most of these sales are people who would have bought a more expensive Mac if this one wasn't available.
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Based on what? This is tremendously popular, well out of line with their regular sales.
Re: (Score:2)
> Most of these sales are people who would have bought a more expensive Mac if this one wasn't available.
Perhaps, but I bought one specifically because it was cheap(ish).
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iMac, iBook, white Macbook, eMac. The Classic and LC were aimed at the lower end too.
The last 15 years when Apple hasn't had a real mass consumer machine except for the mac mini have been kind of an exception. I guess that's also how long your memory works for.
Re: (Score:2)
> The iPod was certainly something very mainstream and mass-market.
The iPod evolved into something mainstream and mass-market, but originally it was intended as a "halo accessory" to sell Macs.
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13" macbook air? Just... come on.
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There's a difference between lower end (none of these computers were even low end, just "on the lower end of Apple's offerings") and mass market. None of those devices are mass market, they're just the "non-pro" items.
The Classic, for example, was $999, which until the 2000s I believe was Apple's cheapest Mac. This was in 1990. It was still an upscale item, just slightly more accessable price wise than their Macs had been before. And its spec was basically identical to the Mac Plus, launched 5 years earlier
I think it's just Windows 11 sucking (Score:2)
I think they see a clear attack point. Big enough to make it worth trying it. It also helps that these computers are incredibly cheap to build not just because the leftover parts but because it's literally just a phone SOC.
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It's certainly a perfect time to dip their toes in the water. The last time would have been Windows Vista, and for whatever reason mass market computers, despite his success with mass market music players, didn't seem to be something Jobs was ready to do.
It's about the hardware (Score:2)
Windows 11 really isn't that bad. It's mostly that PC laptops at this price point are generally flimsy plastic crap, with washed out screens, tinny speakers, and keyboards that'll make you regret your life choices. The thing Apple really got right about it is that it's a cheap laptop that doesn't feel cheap.
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I remember when the Mac Mini launched at $500. It didn't take long before it re-launched at $900... and you still didn't get a mouse or keyboard.
Apple is Doomed! (Score:2)
Apple makes a superior product from 'spare parts' that has the low end PC community worrying how they'll match it at that price and now they can't make enough of them to meet demand. And they do this when other vendors are worrying about where they'll find memory chips. Yup, Apple is Doomed!
Re: (Score:1)
599 is not low end, sort of low mid range. Well, at least before AI shortages came along.
But 8gb puts it in low end I guess, as it's not user expandable. 599 and only 8GB isn't low end it's a ripoff (comparatively, as 8gb is actually plenty as a consumption device).
A good PC is still $3000 (Score:2)
Fight me.
(please don't. I already hurt.)
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soldered ram is just insane.. you have to pay a huge amount upfront when you know you need more ram in the future, but not now. now you need something you can get by while you save up to upgrade your ram later. i hate the fact that i need to go on ebay and research whether or not the laptop in offers have soldered ram.
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> i hate the fact that i need to go on ebay and research whether or not the laptop in offers have soldered ram.
You don't need to anymore, anything that's vaguely power efficient in this space is soldered RAM now.
Framework had to go to some ancient and power hungry Intel 13th Gen on their smallest laptop to keep the socketed RAM. And their "desktop" has soldered RAM!
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> 599 is not low end, sort of low mid range. Well, at least before AI shortages came along.
Technically $499, since the education discount is basically a pinky promise.
Re: Apple is Doomed! (Score:2)
No PC vendor is seriously worried about a $600 Mac iPad w/ keyboard attached - they mostly all offer a lower price model Windows laptop.
It's an interesting product, it's targeted at the lower-end of the market, but it's not going put a serious crimp in any Win laptop Mfg sales.
Re: (Score:2)
You may be right, but there are definitely PC vender executives who claim to be very worried about the Neo. Maybe foolishly, or maybe for once they are seeing a bigger picture, Apple is hitting one narrow slice here but in ways they can’t counter. They may be legit worried about other configurations taking other slices with no real counter.
I think Windows will provide an extremely large area for that market to “retreat” into though where Apple won’t really follow. I mean with so
Simpler solution (Score:2)
Just offer all the Neo buyers the option to purchase a refurbished base model M4 Air for the same price. Might cut the backlog a bit.
Disable a GPU core? (Score:2)
Why? Because it might upset the purchasers of the more expensive 6-core models? So, ship them with a few dead pixels and you can still call it the budget model.
No, offer an upgrade with 6 GPU cores (Score:2)
> Why? Because it might upset the purchasers of the more expensive 6-core models? So, ship them with a few dead pixels and you can still call it the budget model.
No, offer an upgrade with 6 GPU cores. 5 core remains as the low end at the current price, so marketing is happy.
The only problem is that the nerfing between the Neo and Air is that much less.
Also, either there is a lot of new low end demand that Apple did not expect, or there is a lot more cannibalization of Air sales than Apple expected. Investors should look closely at any data on Air sales.
McRib (Score:2)
When you have a product made from leftover rejected parts the supply is guaranteed to be limited.
So you hype it as "for a limited time" and people go hog wild with FOMO.
coming soon: "The Neo is Back."
Re: McRib (Score:2)
> Apple's initial plan was to have suppliers build around five to six million MacBook Neo units before ceasing production of the model with the A18 Pro chip
5-6 million pieces is a far cry from 'limited edition' in my opinion...
Liars (Score:1)
Overpriced pieces of shit are still overpriced pieces of shit.
Re: (Score:2)
So shitty they can't make enough of them to sate demand
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Easy to claim when they artificially limit manufacturing capacity.
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Party like its 2009 with the current RAM/Flash prices mate!
[1]https://au.pcpartpicker.com/tr... [pcpartpicker.com]
[1] https://au.pcpartpicker.com/trends/price/memory/
Re: (Score:2)
What are you doing on a desktop machine that uses 256gb?
Re: (Score:2)
Installing more than one modern AAA title.
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It's a phone GPU with 8GB unified ram. You're not running that AAA title with any meaningfully sized textures, so no need for storage space either.
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> Installing more than one modern AAA title.
Which you're really not going to be doing on a MacBook Neo anyway.
Mostly, I'd say the biggest problem the lack of storage might cause is when you try to back up your iPhone to the Neo and it doesn't have enough space. Though, I guess Apple expects people to just subscribe to one of their paid cloud storage plans.
A hammer and a nail (Score:3)
(and good eyesight and a really steady hand) Sorted!