Apple has increased its planned number of MacBook Neo shipments in 2026 from 5 million to 10 million, said Taiwanese insider and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. The decision is attributed to the fact that demand for a budget laptop, introduced in March of this year, was higher than expected by the brand, known for more expensive devices.
As MacRumors and Gadget Review note, Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged the underestimation of the device’s popularity during an April conference with investors.
He noted that the company was “optimistic” about the prospects for a laptop with an iPhone processor and a price of $599, but the customer response “exceeded all expectations.” By the way, in September Cook will leave his post and transfer leadership to John Ternus, who, as head of the engineering department, in particular, led the development of the MacBook Neo.
The forecast, based on inside information, Kuo mentioned in a post on X (formerly Twitter) about the new Nvidia processor. As RTVI.US previously wrote, the American company, known for its graphics chips, will soon introduce the first personal computers (PCs) based on its own main processor. According to insiders, the devices were created jointly with a number of brands, including Microsoft and Dell.
Kuo emphasized that the market situation in 2026 so far indicates that these kinds of advanced laptops, focused on working with artificial intelligence (AI) locally and not in the cloud, are not yet in demand. He named the MacBook Neo and Mac Mini as the two “hottest” products in the PC category.
“People are willing to pay for the ratio of price, design and ecosystem, rather than the ability to work with AI on the device itself,” the analyst emphasized.
Gadget Review adds that increasing production volumes of the MacBook Neo may make it difficult to maintain its current starting price of $599. The situation is due to the fact that Apple expected to assemble devices only using the remaining unclaimed A18 Pro processors for the iPhone, but in the end the company had to urgently order a new batch from the Taiwanese contractor TSMC. This was previously stated by another analyst Tim Culpan.
The publication also draws attention to the fact that so far, when ordering through the official website, customers have to wait 2-3 weeks for delivery of the MacBook Neo.
According to TechCrunch, MacBook Neo shipments for the first quarter of 2026 amounted to 1.1 million units. The more advanced devices in the company's line of computers – the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro with M5 processors – were shipped in smaller quantities, 900 thousand and 500 thousand, respectively, during their first quarter after release.
