Apple is reportedly exploring new colors for the MacBook Neo lineup as it deals with rising production costs tied to the laptop’s unexpected success. According to Taiwan-based tech columnist and former Bloomberg reporter Tim Culpan, Apple sees fresh finishes as one way to keep excitement high if it decides to raise prices later this year.
The MacBook Neo launched at $599 and quickly became one of Apple’s most successful low-cost products in years, especially among students and buyers moving away from Chromebooks and budget Windows laptops. Apple currently sells the device in Citrus, Blush, Indigo, and Silver, although the report says the company has not finalized any new shades yet.
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In his latest Culpium newsletter, Culpan said Apple dramatically increased its production plans after demand surged beyond expectations.
“As a result, it’s now asking suppliers to prepare capacity for 10 million units of the debut version of the Neo, up from an initial estimate of 5 million to 6 million, my sources tell me. Delivery times for the laptop have ballooned to as much as four weeks as Taiwan’s Quanta and Foxconn rush to fill orders from factories in Vietnam and China.” — Tim Culpan, Culpium newsletter
Apple’s problem now comes down to supply and cost. The Neo uses the same A18 Pro chip found in the iPhone 16 Pro, but the original batch relied on “downbinned” chips with one GPU core disabled. Those chips reportedly helped Apple keep costs low during the initial launch.
A fresh production run changes that equation because Apple now needs new top-tier chips from TSMC while AI demand continues to consume much of the available 3nm chip capacity. At the same time, DRAM prices have climbed sharply, which further increases the Neo’s manufacturing cost.
Culpan previously suggested Apple could drop the cheaper 256GB version entirely, similar to what it recently did with the Mac mini lineup. However, the company now appears to be considering “new colors” as a softer way to offset possible price increases while maintaining the Neo’s momentum.
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