MacBook Neo demand reportedly pushes Apple to order more A18 Pro chips
Apple is reportedly increasing MacBook Neo production after demand exceeded its own launch estimates. According to Tim Culpan, Apple has asked suppliers to prepare capacity for 10 million units , up from an earlier plan of 5 to 6 million units.
The MacBook Neo starts at $599 with 256GB storage, while the 512GB model is priced at $699. The system uses the A18 Pro SoC, the same chip family used by the iPhone 16 Pro. However, the MacBook Neo version uses a 5-core GPU configuration, while the iPhone 16 Pro version has 6 GPU cores.
Apple currently offers the Neo in 256GB ($599) and 512GB ($699) versions with four colors apiece. A month ago I suggested that to deal with the higher cost and lower margins of a new batch, Apple may kill the cheaper version and only offer the 512GB variant. It recently followed that strategy with the Mac Mini, pulling the $599 256GB model from sale leaving only the $799 512GB version available.
— Tim Culpan
No more A18 Pro binning?
Culpan reports that the first Neo production run used downbinned A18 Pro chips. For the next batch, Apple reportedly needs a fresh TSMC run of A18 Pro silicon. That means many of the new chips may be fully functional parts, with Apple disabling one GPU core for product consistency.
A new chip run is expected to be more expensive than using downbinned inventory. DRAM prices have also increased since the original production run, which could raise the MacBook Neo bill of materials. Apple could respond by removing the $599 256GB model and keeping the $699 512GB version as the new entry point.
This would follow a similar move with the Mac mini, where Apple recently removed the $599 256GB configuration and left the $799 512GB version as the cheapest model.
Source: Tim Culpan Blog
