Apple has revealed its rumoured low-end MacBook Neo, following three days of other product announcements and price hikes for its more expensive laptops.

The technology giant announced the MacBook Neo on Thursday, after accidentally leaking the product’s name on its website on Wednesday.

The new device, which starts at $899 in Australia, features a 13-inch display, comes in four pastel-coloured aluminium chassis, and is the first Apple laptop to be powered by an iPhone chip – specifically the A18 Pro which first debuted in 2024’s iPhone 16 Pro.

With a starting price now $900 lower than Apple’s MacBook Air, the MacBook Neo cuts back on costs by using a less powerful processor, a slightly smaller screen with support for fewer colours, and a keyboard without a backlight.

It also features less base memory (8GB) and slower memory speeds, less base storage (256GB), weaker speakers, a lower-quality camera, and a smaller battery with slower USB-C charging.

Technology market analyst Jacob Bourne from Emarketer said Apple is aware consumers are facing inflationary pressures, and the company has signaled it can confidently navigate the memory chip shortage which has already seen consumer electronics prices rise.

“Affordability in this case is a calculated bet that winning market share is worth absorbing near-term margin pressure,” Bourne said in a statement.

“Apple is playing the long game by using affordable hardware as the gateway to its ecosystem and ultimately Apple Intelligence during a time when the AI capabilities race is intensifying."

Analyst Benedict Evans wrote on social media, “Nothing illustrates the way Apple treads its own path better than the fact that as everybody in tech talks about AI, it just launched a takeover of a market that’s been around for 20 or 30 years.”

Apple previously launched a similarly small and minimalist 12-inch MacBook – simply called the MacBook – in 2015, but it was more expensive than the MacBook Air and saw lower sales.

The device's thin and fanless design had only one USB-C port and was powered by Intel chips.

Apple also faced lawsuits over issues with the 12-inch MacBook’s low-travel butterfly keyboard and eventually began a free servicing program for the device in 2018, before it was discontinued in 2019.

MacBook Air and MacBook Pro prices rise

Apple announced updated versions of its MacBook Air and MacBook Pro devices on Wednesday, and increased the starting prices of both models ahead of the MacBook Neo’s announcement.

The MacBook Air saw a $100 price increase in Australia, where it now starts at $1,799 and comes with Apple’s M5 chip and 512GB of storage – double that on 2025’s cheapest M4 MacBook Air.


Apple announced updated MacBook Pros and Studio Displays on Wednesday. Image: Apple / Supplied

The base model of Apple’s more premium M5 MacBook Pro has seen a $200 jump in its starting price to $2,699, but receives a doubling of its base storage to 1TB.

New and more powerful editions of the MacBook Pro with Apple's M5 Pro and M5 Max chips have also seen price hikes compared to their predecessors.

The cheapest M5 Pro model is now priced from $3,499 – a $200 increase over the M4 Pro.

But the M5 Max edition received the largest price increase, and now starts from $5,799 – an $800 (or 16 per cent) increase over the price of the previous M4 Max model.

MacBook Pros with an M5 or M5 Pro chip will come with a base storage of 1TB, while the M5 Max model starts with 2TB.

Apple announces iPhone 17e and new iPad Air

Apple on Tuesday announced the iPhone 17e as the successor to last year’s new budget model the iPhone 16e.

The updated phone still starts at $999 in Australia, and receives a slightly slowed version of the A19 chip from the iPhone 17, as well as Apple’s latest cellular modem the C1X, MagSafe and Qi2 integration for wireless chargers and accessories, and improved scratch and glare resistance.

The company also debuted a new pink colour option, and doubled the base storage of its low-end phone from 128GB to 256GB.

The iPhone 17e retains the same 48-megapixel camera with a 2x Telephoto zoom seen in the 16e, as well as the same 6.1-inch OLED display with a maximum refresh rate of 60Hz – slower than the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro’s maximum of 120Hz.


Apple's iPhone 17e is the successor to 2025's budget model the iPhone 16e. Image: Apple / Supplied

Apple announced a new version of its iPad Air tablet on Tuesday, updating it with the M4 processor and the company’s latest wireless connectivity chips.

The new iPad Air begins at the same $999 starting price as 2025's M3 model, with the same base storage of 128GB.

Apple also announced new versions of its 5K Studio Displays, including the all-new Studio Display XDR which introduces mini-LED and a 120Hz refresh rate for a starting price of $5,499.

The company's new MacBooks, iPhone 17e, iPad Air, and Studio Displays all launch on 11 March.