$599 A18 Pro laptop keeps exceeding Apple’s own estimates
Apple’s MacBook Neo may be performing above the company’s original shipment plan. According to Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple has doubled its 2026 shipment target for the laptop from 5 million units to 10 million units.
The update follows Apple’s own comments from late April. During the company’s earnings call, Tim Cook said customer response to MacBook Neo was “off the charts.” He also said Apple “undercalled” demand and that the laptop helped bring in a record number of first-time Mac buyers.
MacBook Neo launched in March as Apple’s lowest-priced MacBook. The system starts at $599 in the US, with education pricing at $499. It uses the A18 Pro chip, listed by Apple with a 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine, and 8GB of unified memory.
So far in 2026, the two hottest stories in the PC market have had almost nothing to do with on-device AI compute:
➡ Strong MacBook Neo sales. My industry checks suggest 2026 shipments of Neo models were revised up by roughly 100% (5M → 10M) . Buyers are paying for price, design, and ecosystem, not for on-device AI compute.— Ming-Chi Kuo
Neo 2 reportedly coming next year
Kuo previously said MacBook Neo shipments were expected to reach 4.5 to 5 million units in 2026. The updated 10 million-unit figure suggests Apple has moved much higher than its first production plan.
The analyst also expects the second-generation MacBook Neo to launch next year with an A19 Pro chip and 12GB of memory. He previously reported that Apple had considered a touch panel for Neo 2, but newer supply-chain checks suggested this may no longer be planned.
I guess it’s safe to assume that NVIDIA N1 non-X will not compete with Neo laptops . On the contrary, it is expected to cost at least 3x more, and that’s the cut-down chip we are talking about.
Source: Ming-Chi Kuo , MacRumors
