In my view, the MacBook Neo is without a doubt one of the most compelling laptops Apple has ever made. At $600, it’s a powerful and reliable option for students or anyone looking for a laptop that won’t break the bank, and it stands head and shoulders above many Windows laptops.
It features a fast A18 Pro chip, the first-ever iPhone chip used in a Mac, along with 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and a range of fun color options.
But its most appealing aspect is its $600 price tag. To put it into perspective, the Neo is $500 cheaper than the M5 MacBook Air and $1,100 cheaper than the M5 MacBook Pro.
Because of that, the MacBook Neo has been a smash hit, and the laptop is now facing delivery delays of up to 3 weeks. Apple CEO Tim Cook even admitted during Apple’s investor conference call on April 30 that the MacBook Neo is “supply-constrained” and that the company “under-called the level of enthusiasm” it would have.
Now, according to analyst Tim Culpan, an unfortunate side effect of the MacBook Neo’s success is that Apple might have to discontinue the $600 base configuration with 256GB of storage, partly due to rising costs from the ongoing memory shortage. That would leave only the $700 512GB model available, effectively raising the laptop’s entry price.
- Operating System
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macOS 26
- CPU
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A18 Pro
- RAM
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8GB
- Storage
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256GB, 512GB
Apple has a tough decision to make
Apple has already increased production of the MacBook Neo
To meet growing demand for the MacBook Neo, Culpan says Apple has doubled production to 10 million units, up from the five to six million it originally planned. But with output ramping up, the real challenge becomes cost.
The first production run of the MacBook Neo reportedly used leftover A18 Pro chips from the iPhone 16 Pro. However, for the second wave, Culpan says Apple has had to order additional A18 Pro chips to keep up with demand.
Now, with the cost of producing A18 Pro chips combined with rising prices for RAM and storage due to the ongoing memory crunch, Apple is in a position where each additional MacBook Neo is costing significantly more than it originally expected.
…at $600, the MacBook Neo is a sweet deal, and it would be a shame for it to get a price hike so soon.
As a result, Culpan suggests it’s possible Apple could drop the $600 base configuration altogether, leaving only the $700 model available in an effort to offset rising production costs and lower profit margins.
And it’s not entirely out of the question that Apple would do this either. Just recently, the company stopped selling the $600 Mac mini with 256GB of storage, leaving only the $700 512GB model available. It also discontinued the 512GB RAM configuration of the Mac Studio. While Apple hasn’t officially explained why it made these changes, all signs point to rising memory costs as the likely driver behind them.
Of course, this is based on an analyst report for now, and the 256GB MacBook Neo for $600 remains on sale, and likely will for the foreseeable future. But with rising production costs, it’s quite possible Apple could have to pull the plug on the $600 model in the future or simply increase its price due to the memory shortage. I really hope this doesn’t happen, because at $600, the MacBook Neo is a sweet deal, and it would be a shame for it to get a price hike so soon.
