MacBook Neo has a chip supply problem, here’s how Apple could fix it

Apple has a problem with the chip. macbook neo is selling far better that the company I had waitedand now it seems that there is they are not enough It scrapped the A18 Pro chips to keep production going for another 6 to 12 months before a new version is released.

Some have floated the idea of ​​Apple removing the 256GB version and simply using an unsplit A18 Pro chip in the 512GB version. That’s certainly plausible. However, I wonder how Apple can prevent this from happening with each next release. macbook neo?

The boom of the MacBook Neo

We already know what Apple is doing another version of the macbook neo with the A19 Pro chip and 12 GB of RAM in about a year.

What if, however, there was more diversity? Clearly, trusting a discarded chip cutout It won’t necessarily be enough for the amount of demand there is for the MacBook Neo.

You could argue that a lot of this could be launch hype, but I also think the MacBook Neo is an absurdly good deal compared to the rest of the PC industry, and people will still want to buy it. Especially if they already have an iPhone.

At this time, there are two settings for macbook neono chip difference:

• $599 ($499 education): 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM, A18 Pro chip with 5-core CPU and 6-core GPU
• $699 ($599 education): 512GB SSD, 8GB RAM, Touch ID, same A18 Pro chip

Apple only implements one chip in the macbook neoat least for now. With the A19 version, I think there is room for them to move both up and down.

The A19 version

Apple can go higher, in the sense that the highest level macbook neo The trim costs $699, while the lowest macbook air the finish costs $1099. And it can go down, in the sense that people are clearly okay with 8GB of memory at this price.

So you could imagine this line with the A19 update:

• $599 ($499 education): 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM, A19 chip (6-core CPU, 5-core GPU like iPhone 17), no Touch ID
• $749 ($649 education): 512GB SSD, 12GB RAM, A19 Pro chip (6-core CPU, 5-core GPU like iPhone Air), Touch ID
• $899 ($799 education): 1TB SSD, 12GB RAM, A19 Pro chip (6-core CPU, 6-core GPU like iPhone 17 Pro), Touch ID

That provides some diversity in chip supply and creates a new incentive for people with a little more room in their budget to buy the chip that’s not in short supply. I’m not sure I can see these prices holding up word for word, but I do think the overall structure is broadly plausible.

One downside to the base A19 chip is the fact that it does not incorporate a USB 3 controller. Apple could incorporate an external one on the board, returning a USB 3 port to the base model. An added benefit of this is the fact that the A19 Pro chips have a built-in USB 3 controller, so the external one would make both USB-C ports support USB 3 speeds. This is all hypothetical of course.

Wrap

I’m sure Apple wants its Chromebook and its low-end Windows laptop competitor to be continually in stock, and the A18 Pro shortage is not something it thought it would have to deal with so soon. One way or another, I think that greater diversity with the upcoming A19 model It’s almost inevitable.

What do you think of the MacBook Neo? Have you bought one? Speak in the comments.

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