In the iPhone 16 Pro models, the A18 Pro chip has a 6-core GPU. During the chip manufacturing process, however, sometimes a CPU or GPU core can turn out to be faulty. Rather than discarding the leftover A18 Pro chips with only a 5-core GPU, Apple opted to use them in the MacBook Neo, as a way of optimizing its supply chain and costs.
These so-called “binned” chips with a 5-core GPU are effectively “free” to Apple, given that they otherwise would have been discarded.
Herein lies the dilemma.
In the latest edition of his Culpium newsletter today, Culpan said the MacBook Neo is selling so well that Apple’s supply of the binned A18 Pro chips with a 5-core GPU will “run out” before the company is able to fully satisfy demand for the laptop.
Binning has been a thing forever. Apple isn’t new in selling processors that are technically nerfed versions of better ones. It’s not shady either – the chips were binned exactly because they were tested.
What I find more interesting is that Apple is also dealing with what happened on the PC side a while ago: processors get so fast that the differences between mid-range and high-end don’t really show up in typical day-to-day workflows. Apple is right to think that this gives them a chance to gain market share by selling a Mac which is significantly cheaper, but to what effect? Apple hardware has been the expensive option for a long time, and one could argue that a lot of brand identity is tied up in high prices, because people perceive “most expensive” as “the best”. I can’t think of a brand on the PC side which has been happy to stay at the top of the price range for so long.
So a cheap Mac is decidedly off-brand for Apple. Will people spend thousands extra for a machine that feels mostly the same for everyday workloads?
The Neo is the gateway drug into the ecosystem. For people who have only ever known Windows, MacOS will probably blow a lot of minds with how superior it is. Then Apple has a new customer who will want everything Apple from now on. Maybe not every time, but I would wager the majority of times, they’ll have new converts.
This used to be the logic behind the iPod. In fact, it was referred to as the “iPod halo effect”. So I would not be surprised if that is a key reason for the pricing.
@circuitfarmer It’s also a good time to go back to selling Macs with only 8 gb of ram, given supply constraints. Can’t really walk back the minimum amount of ram in an existing line (although they have reduced the maximum at least in the case of the Studio, which is bad enough)
The RAM is probably the biggest issue with the Neo, and Apple might be banking on that as the thing that keeps people paying more for other systems. I can’t imagine using 8GB RAM in 2026, tbh, but again, it all comes down to workflows.