Will the Rumored Lower-Cost MacBook Use an A18 Pro or A19 Pro Chip?

Max Headroom 2025.09.18 2 min read

Over the past few months, there have been rumors about a more affordable MacBook powered by an iPhone processor launching in late 2025 or early 2026. However, it is not entirely clear yet whether the laptop will have an A18 Pro or A19 Pro chip.

In June, Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the lower-cost MacBook would be equipped with the A18 Pro, which debuted in the iPhone 16 Pro models last year. Soon after, MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris also discovered evidence that pointed towards the laptop being powered by the A18 Pro, and DigiTimes reported the same.

It is quite possible that Apple has already finalized specs for the lower-cost MacBook, so it very well might be the A18 Pro in the first-generation model.

However, in a post on Chinese social media platform Weibo last week, an account known as “Mobile Phone Chip Expert” claimed that Apple is considering using the A19 Pro chip in the lower-cost MacBook. If so, it is unclear if it would be the 6-core GPU version in the iPhone 17 Pro models, or the 5-core GPU version in the iPhone Air.

“Mobile Phone Chip Expert” was one of the sources who said at least one iPhone 17 model would be equipped with 12GB of RAM, so they have a bit of a track record.

Obviously, the A19 Pro would be faster than the A18 Pro, which has similar performance as the M1 chip. It would also be good news for RAM, as the A19 Pro has 12GB of unified memory, whereas the A18 Pro has 8GB. The entire new Mac lineup has started with at least 16GB of RAM since last year, with the only option with 8GB being the five-year-old MacBook Air with an M1 chip, which is sold exclusively by Walmart for $599.

Both the A18 Pro and A19 Pro lack Thunderbolt support, so the MacBook would likely be equipped with regular USB-C ports. They would look the same as Thunderbolt ports, but data transfer speeds would be limited to up to 10 Gbps. Plus, only a single external display would be natively supported, but DisplayLink adapters allow for more.

Kuo expects the lower-cost MacBook to have a 13-inch display, and he said potential color options for the laptop included silver, blue, pink, and yellow.

Apple often announces new Macs in October, so perhaps the lower-cost MacBook will debut next month. Otherwise, March 2026 is the next likely timeframe.