- Apple could ship its affordable MacBook in quantities of up to 8 million
- New rumor indicates that this would represent 25% of Mac sales in 2025
- In short, the company could have big plans for its wallet-friendly device and the means to price it temptingly in this unfavorable climate.
Apple’s rumored affordable MacBook could be a big piece of the company’s laptop sales strategy based on the latest rumors.
Mac Observer spotted a post by yeux1122 that included new information about the MacBook. This is a Korean tech blogger with supply chain ties who has done things well in the past, but obviously still needs to be taken with a lot of seasoning.
The leaker claims that Apple has big plans for this cheaper MacBook and that (translated by Google): “Annual shipments of this model are expected to reach around 5.5 million units.” [to] 7.9 million units, accounting for about 25% of total Mac series sales last year.”
In short, this will not be a relatively specific launch, an equivalent to an iPhone SE; rather, it’s framed as a big push to boost Mac sales.
As we’ve heard before, this MacBook is expected to reduce its price by using an iPhone processor (likely the A18 Pro chip) and also dropping to 8GB of system RAM, which would be an obvious cost savings in the current memory crisis.
We’re told that Apple’s “strong” supply chain management (contracts for parts and inventory of existing components) means it will still be able to mass produce this cheaper MacBook, even with current RAM (and other) prices and supply hurdles.
This sentiment was echoed by another recent report from Taiwan’s Mirror Daily, highlighted by leaker Jukan in Again, we’re told it will use the A18 CPU and 8GB of RAM, and will be priced between $699 and $799 in the US (and in line with that in other currencies).
This other report also reflects the optimistic sales forecasts published by yeux1122, and it all adds more weight to the idea that this MacBook could be ready to launch soon. Previous rumors have indicated a spring 2026 release, so it could be next month, in theory, and probably before May.
Analysis: A great opportunity for Apple, but is 8GB still sustainable?
It appears that Apple has plenty of reserve inventory for MacBook production, so in theory it can continue launching this new entry-level model without batting an eyelid in the face of the now raging RAM crisis. This isn’t very surprising, given the influence of the MacBook maker, but still, the alleged number for this release, as conveyed here, is a surprise, if true.
Another surprise here is that yeux1122 notes that the price of this MacBook “may be lower than expected,” although it’s hard to imagine Apple targeting, say, a $599 model with the state of the PC industry right now (with prices of everything going up). It seems likely that Apple could go for an MSRP higher than that and still seem like a great value.
Of course, it all depends on the quality of this affordable MacBook. In addition to the iPhone chip and loading 8GB of RAM, we can also expect the corners to be reduced with the screen, and the chassis and overall build probably won’t be as premium as other MacBooks. There have to be compromises, of course, but it’s a question of what effect they might have, and we have no idea about that at this stage of mere rumors.
One thing is pretty clear, though: If Apple is going back to 8GB with a MacBook, it’s reversing its recent policy of not having any Macs under 16GB. As you probably haven’t noticed, 8GB looks pretty bad in the world of contemporary laptops. In fact, I wrote a long article about this amount of RAM and how suitable or not it is for a laptop in 2026 if you want to explore this in more depth.
Bottom line, at least for everyday computing, you can still get by with 8GB in 2026, but it’s far from ideal, especially when it comes to any kind of future-proofing considerations. And interestingly, yeux1122 notes that thanks to the way Apple has macOS and its tightly integrated hardware, you can expect a “smooth user experience even with 8GB of RAM” (again, translation nuances may need to be taken into account, but you get the gist).
Especially when it comes to AI features in the future, which after all are supposedly the next big thing, I find it hard to believe that 8GB of RAM will be enough, but apparently the affordable MacBook will happily support Apple Intelligence, yeux1122 tells us. (Although really, it will have to be like that, really.)
So there are some conflicting ideas with the design (rumored) and reality of this laptop, and I don’t think the path is entirely clear for a MacBook with 8GB in 2030; You’ll want the laptop to last a few years, of course. But that said, there’s no doubt that a very temptingly priced MacBook could really boost Mac sales, and if Apple releases the device in the quantity theorized here, it’s not unfeasible that the laptop could account for a large chunk of the company’s PC sales, given the current climate of price gouging elsewhere with laptop makers.
With a launch seemingly on the horizon now, it shouldn’t be long before we start getting more rumors and discover more likely truths about this supposed entry-level MacBook. If Apple really plans to go all out with this device as suggested, it will mean interesting times ahead, no doubt, and some much-needed relief on the value front in the laptop space this year.
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