Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman sent a Tuesday newsletter, and the entire internet caught fire. Apple, the corporation that once offered an absurdly pricey $10,000 gold watch, is quietly working on a laptop that will cost far less than $1,000. Not a clearance sale Air or refurbished Pro, but the real deal: a brand-new MacBook with an iPhone brain inside.
People who make a livelihood researching Apple rumors have been following this story for about 18 months. First, there were whispers of a “J700” codename, followed by Ming Chi Kuo’s color swatches of silver, blue, pink, and yellow, as if someone had dropped a handful of Skittles over a blueprint. Now it all adds up: a 2026 launch, a screen smaller than the current 13.6-inch Air, a plain LCD rather than a sophisticated tiny LED, and the same A18 Pro CPU that powers the iPhone 16 Pro.
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Pop into any high school cafeteria and you’ll see who Apple is after: kids with Chromebooks, which start at $250 and are the place to be at lunchtime. Windows laptops start at $400 at Walmart, which is a reasonable price given what you receive. However, Apple’s cheapest laptop remains the M4 Air, which costs $999 – or $899 if you flash a student ID – leaving a significant disparity. That’s what this new laptop is attempting to bridge.
The A18 Pro chip inside this MacBook will make the previous M1 Air from 2020 obsolete. Early testing show it can perform single-core tasks and graphics better than the previous M1 while remaining extremely efficient. In other words, if a youngster is streaming YouTube, creating a Google Doc, and playing Minecraft all at the same time, they won’t notice the difference between this and a $1,000 Air. Battery life is estimated to be between 10 and 12 hours.
The screen is the most significant compromise, so expect a 12.5-inch 60 Hz LCD without ProMotion or billion color depth. The resolution will remain Retina sharp—Apple does not do fuzzy—but the brightness will be limited to 500 nits, making it suitable for a classroom but less bright than the Air in direct sunlight.
Ports have not yet been revealed, as the previous 12-inch MacBook only had one USB-C port; insiders suggest this one will have two, as well as a headphone jack. The body may borrow the Air’s tapered wedge, but reports indicate the lid will be lighter plastic in those candy hues, saving another $20 off the production cost.
According to multiple sources, the price will be “under $1,000.” If you convert that to real-world money, you get $599-$799, or less than a new PS5 Pro. When compared to a $600 iPad with a $169 Magic Keyboard Folio, the MacBook wins due to raw power and a real trackpad. Apple held a dress rehearsal last year and sold remaining M1 Airs at Walmart for $649. They sold out in days, and store managers pleaded for more. The test demonstrated that if sticker shock is eliminated, parents will purchase a Mac. Whatever the case, mark your calendars for spring 2026.
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