Apple’s rumored cheap MacBook could be powered by an iPhone chip – here are 6 things to expect

Lowering the bar to entry

· TechRadar

News By Alex Blake published 5 November 2025

Is the MacBook Air (2019) good enough investment for those discouraged by the MacBook Pro’s lofty price? (Image credit: Future)

  • Apple is working on a budget laptop, a new report claims
  • The device will be powered by an iPhone chip and use a smaller display
  • It could be priced around $600, making it Apple’s cheapest laptop

Apple’s best MacBooks are known for their premium price tags – you’re going to pay at least $999 / £999 / AU$1,699 for one, with the understanding that you get a high-quality device in almost every regard. Apple has long stuck to that formula, but a new report claims it’s about to rip up the script with a budget laptop that could compete against all the best budget laptops.

In a recently published article, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman claims this low-cost MacBook could arrive as soon as “the first half of next year.” That anticipated arrival date means it will likely be on sale at the same time as Apple’s latest range of M5 Macs.

But don’t expect the budget MacBook to come outfitted with that same M5 chip. The second thing to expect, according to Gurman, is that the device will “rely on an iPhone processor.”

We don’t yet know exactly which chip that will be, but Gurman says that Apple’s “internal tests have shown that the smartphone chip can perform better than the Mac-optimized M1 used in laptops as recently as a few years ago.”

That could reassure users who might be put off by seeing an iPhone chip inside a Mac.

Cost-cutting moves

(Image credit: Future)

Thirdly, another cost-cutting move will allegedly come to the screen. Here, Gurman asserts that Apple will use a “lower-end LCD display.”

This will be “the smallest of any current Mac, coming in at slightly below the 13.6-inch one used in the MacBook Air.” Fourthly, Gurman also alludes to the product’s “entirely new design,” although he doesn’t share any more details on what that might look like.

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