break the computer market

Apple has done very well The transition to Apple Silicon. Your products, widely well valued for their power and efficiencythey have managed to sell very well, which has made the company go from 5.8% world market share to 8.7% of the first quarter of 2025, according to IDC figures. In Cupertino they want more, and the last plan to enhance sales goes through A cheaper macbook.

Filtration. Ming-Chi Kuo is one of the analysts who has the best history of successes in terms of rumors of upcoming Apple launches, And predicted that the company prepares a cheaper “macbook” and colors. There are no surprises on the screen: it would be “approximately 13 inches.” However, it points to something they had not yet done from Cupertino, using an iPhone processor in a Mac. And Apple would choose the A18 PRO with which the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 pro max.

The price. Digitimes, another medium with very good sources with regard to Apple, has gone further that Kuo and already offers a tentative price for this launch: $ 599. It is the same price chosen by Apple to market the cheapest MAC in history by adjusting for inflation, the Mac Mini M4. And also the same as iPhone 16E. In both products, the Spanish price without discounts is 709 euros. And that price would be groundbreaking for the global PCs market, such as It has been for smartphones.

To put the figures in perspective. Apple’s “cheap” macbook, antonomasia, was launched at $ 1,099 in 2006, which implies a price of about $ 1,700 of 2025 updating inflation. Adjusting the price of that model to euros of 2025, the “blanquito” stays at 1,569 euros (and it must be remembered that VAT was 16% until its rise in 2009). Apple’s cheapest laptop sold in Spain was the 2009 variant, marketed for 879 euros (1,215 euros of 2025).

Why it is important. Apple has managed to hit a bite to the PC market with very competitive laptops in its segment like the MacBook Air, especially Now that they are already base equipped with 16 GB of RAM. And he has achieved it without teams considered economical, but with the lowest prices in its history. Rancing an economic macbook at Mini prices, Apple would sell between 5 and 7 million units in 2026, according to Kuo.

The Macbook Air M4 starts from $ 999, the same as the M1 departed and previous models with Intel. But adjusting inflation, its price is lower than those. The MAC Mini M4 is now 599 dollars, compared to $ 825 by adjusting the inflation of the original MAC Mini, which reached the market in January 2005 by 499. That just is the price at which they sell the Mini M4 for the educational market, where this new team would have a huge asset given the capabilities of the team.

“A nightmare for Microsoft“In Windows Central They have it clear. The $ 599 are bad news for a Microsoft that in October faces one of the critical moments of the decade: The end of Windows 10 supportthat still has more users than Windows 11 in countries like Spain, and hundreds of millions of users in the world. Given this situation, Microsoft Clara: Buy a new PC.

In the market there is no PC that offers the lightness, power and efficiency that Apple aims to have in its economic MAC, and Similar proposals with Snapdragonthe chip that rivalize with mthey are in a few more euros. At the peak of the 400 euros netbooksApple presented its own alternative, the iPad. Steve Jobs said there was no place in the company’s family for economic laptops.

Iphone brain, more than capable for a Mac. The fear of reading “iPhone chip” is that it is not powerful enough to move macos (and their needs) with ease. The reality is different, if we attend to the numbers. Currently, an M1 chip remains more than enough to perform even heavy tasks in the system. And the A18 pro is more powerful in any CPU metric:

In GPU, as we see, using metal, it is somewhat less powerful. And in a gaming test executed in equal resolution, such as Steel Nomad Light Unlimited, the A18 Pro is left more than 18%. In Single Core, the A18 Pro is also more powerful than the M2 and M3. And that is the most relevant section to move an operating system with ease, as well as what we do most today with the PCs, navigate the web.

Prepared for AI. Although the A18 Pro and the M1 have a 16 -core neural Engine, the advances in architecture and in lithography of the iPhone chip allow obtaining From 50% more yield until the triple of the M1 offers the same processes. Clearly, except for Gaming, we are facing a more suitable chip for the needs of computer science in 2025.

Huge autonomy potential. M1 is a legendary chip for The autonomy that brought the Macbook Air and Pro They arrived equipped with him. If Apple does not cut in the old air watts, the gain in autonomy can be immense, as the A18 PRO is manufactured by TSMC in the second generation 3 NM node (N3P), compared to the 5 NM first generation of the M1.

Yes, but. A Macbook with an A18 Pro sounds very good, until we remember that it would be launched with an economic approach, and that in Apple usually comes accompanied by cuts, sometimes irrelevant, and sometimes painful. A first aspect where Apple could cut in RAM, leaving the team with 8 GB, like the old Macbook Air or Pro, which despite this, are compatible with Apple Intelligence. It does not seem ideal for their performance in AI or multitasking, and in fact it is the same RAM present in the iPhone 16E, but until months ago they were based on that and Insufficient capacity. The M4 have been the first to launch with 16 GB in all models.

Dramatic differences, but not very relevant to not professionals. In addition to panel, materials or battery capacity, where the A18 PRO can offer less performance than an M1 or M4 (depending on what Apple chooses to do) is in connectivity. In front of the Thunderbolt 3 and USB 4 of up to 40 GB/s of the M1, the A18 PRO has an integrated USB 3.2 GEN 2 controller with transfer capabilities of up to 10 GB/s. In practiceshow a 926 and 885 mb/s reading speed respectively, compared to 2,800 Mb/s that They are achieved by Thunderbolt in the Mac With M. processor

The game of discounts against competition. We have reviewed official prices and education prices. In either case, the $ 599 would be very competitive. But at this point on the market, we must bear in mind that unlike what happened a few years ago, right now Apple distributors offer large discounts.

With a base price of $ 599, a few months ago I have been able to acquire a Mac Mini M4 in the United States for $ 449 more taxes. To the current change, and adding taxes of Texas, 412 euros. In Spain, compared to its price of 709 euros (taxes included), The Mini M4 has already been for 574 euros. And the same is happening With the Macbook Air M4 and above. Thus, to follow a similar strategy with the economic macbook, it is not a chimera to think of a team that in Spain Ronde (or even drops the 600 euros at specific times. In the United States, this economic macbook would replace the Macbook Air M1, which Walmart still markets for $ 649.

Today, those 400 euros of the netbook in 2008, updating inflation, are about 545 euros, a price close to that, as we have seen, the economic macbook could have with discounts.

Outstanding image | Applesfera, Apple

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