Apple is confronting a supply problem with the MacBook Neo after demand for its $599 budget laptop far exceeded expectations, leaving the company short of the recycled iPhone chips that made the aggressive price point possible.
The MacBook Neo uses binned A18 Pro processors, chips originally manufactured for the iPhone 16 Pro that failed to meet full specifications, typically due to a faulty GPU core, and were set aside rather than discarded.
The strategy allowed Apple to offer a laptop at a price competitive with Chromebooks and low-end Windows machines while using effectively free silicon, but the supply of those leftover chips is finite and no longer being manufactured.
Independent journalist Tim Culpan reported that Apple had initially planned to produce between five and six million units using the existing stock of binned chips, but sales have outpaced that figure, prompting discussions with supply chain partners about how to proceed.
Delivery times on the Apple Store have stretched to two to three weeks, with similar delays reported across global markets.
Apple's options are limited, and each carries trade-offs.
Restarting A18 Pro production at TSMC would require securing capacity on the foundry's 3-nanometer process, which is effectively sold out, and paying a premium that would erode the MacBook Neo's margins.
Culpan estimated such an order could yield between 2.3 million and 7 million additional chips, a relatively short run by Apple's standards.
Alternatively, Apple could accelerate the planned successor, a MacBook Neo powered by binned A19 Pro chips from the iPhone 17 Pro, which was originally scheduled for roughly a year from now.
A 9to5Mac analysis proposed diversifying the chip lineup for the next generation to prevent a repeat of the shortage, outlining a hypothetical three-tier structure: a $599 base model using a standard A19 chip, a mid-tier around $749 with an A19 Pro and 12GB of RAM, and an $899 top configuration with a stronger A19 Pro GPU and 1TB of storage.
The article stressed these were proposals rather than confirmed Apple plans, but noted that relying on a single binned chip variant across the entire range was unlikely to meet sustained demand.
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Other suggestions have included dropping the cheaper 256GB model to preserve margins, or introducing new colours and bundled iCloud storage alongside a modest price increase.
Apple is expected to address the Neo's performance and supply outlook during its quarterly earnings call on 30 April.
The recap
- MacBook Neo faces shortage of binned A18 Pro chips.
- Two current trims use the same A18 Pro and 8GB RAM.
- Apple plans an A19 Neo refresh in about a year.
