Currently, the cheapest macbook that can be bought Apple It is the 13 -inch air with M4 processorthat in Spain part of the € 1,199but this could change very soon. According to the Apple -specialized technology analyst and in the electronic device supply chain, Ming-Chi Kuothe company plans to expand its MacBooks line below, with A new more economical model that the Air and that, instead of an M4 series chip, I would use the last iPhone 16 Prohe A18 PRO.
The news is surprising and, if confirmed, is an important change in the strategy that has followed in recent years since the launch of the first computers with Chipsets M1 replacing Intel. And raise the question of If Apple processors for their iPhone are powerful enough for a laptopfrom which another type of performance is expected.
With this movement, Apple would expect to reach the sales figures of the pandemic and place yourself in 2026 in the 25 million laptops soldof which between 5 and 7 million would correspond to the new model with the A18 PRO.
It is unknown which name will add to the range formed by the MacBook Pro and Airbut will have a screen of 13 inches and will be presented ‘potentially’ in colors silver, blue, pink and yellow.
Already the last MacBook Airlaunched in 2024arrived with a reduction of 150 euros that has helped keep it as the MacBook best sellingdelving the difference with the MacBook Pro. But give a user to choose from an iPhone or series processor M4which also use the pro, for a laptop can be difficult, so The price difference with the Air should be significant If Apple wants to reach the mentioned sales volume. THE MACBOOK WITH A18 PRO would go into production at the end of this year or early nextsays the analyst, one of the best informed about the novelties that will arrive from Apple.
Apple A18 Pro vs Apple M4
It is not usual to compare a computer processor with one for smartphones. Where is it limited for the size, the impossibility of introducing active ventilation solutions and the energy it consumes, The former stand outwhich is what allows greater power processors, with more transistors, that spend more energy and can heat more without affecting performance.
If both models are compared, according to some of the Benchmarks more popular in the market, the conclusion is that while the A18 PRO Not too far from M4 in mononucle performance, The difference is very large in multinucole.
As collected 9to5Maccompared to the M4 of the Mac Minihe A18 PRO gets in Geekbench a score of ~ 3,500 With a single nucleus, only a little behind M4. In multinuk, the difference grows a lot: ~ 8,780 The first and ~ 15,000 The second.
In Antutu 10which is a test that measures global performance, the A18 PRO reaches 1,813,449 points. He M4 of the iPad Prowith some more small frequencies than in the previous example, it is put in 2,797,277a 54 % more.
Some of the advantages offered by the M4 in front of the chip of the iPhone 16 Pro They are a greater number of nuclei (10 against 6 In the CPU and also in the GPU), greater frequencies, greater bandwidth for memory (120 GBIT/S compared to 60 GBIT/S) and maximum quantity (24 GB against 8 GB). Also has a GPU With more pipelines (10 against 6), further Shaders (1,280 compared to 768) and same number of shadow units (128). The final result is a computing capacity of the GPU of 4.090 Gigaflops in it M4 and of 2,289 in it A18 PRO.
Yes they show similar performance in terms of their NPUthe chip dedicated to AI, with a difference of only 3 tops, 38 against 35. And the A18 PROof course, offers greater energy efficiency with a 10 W TDP facing 14 w in it M4.