Top news: MacBook Neo, iPhone 17e, Studio Display XDR, and more
What a week of Apple news! Across Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week, Apple introduced a total of seven new products, including cheaper iPhone and MacBook options, new displays, and refreshes for the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and iPad Air.
Check out our recap with links to all of our coverage from day three, and read below for details on each new product!
Top Stories
Apple announces $599 ‘MacBook Neo’ with A18 Pro Chip
Apple’s budget MacBook is finally here, with Apple itself teasing the name of the computer as “MacBook Neo” a day before the official announcement.
The MacBook Neo is the first consumer Mac to be powered by an iPhone chip: the A18 Pro that was released in the 2024 iPhone 16 Pro models. Apple says it’s up to 50% faster for everyday tasks than the best-selling PC with the latest Intel Core Ultra 5 shipments, up to 3× faster for on-device AI workloads, and up to 2× faster for tasks like photo editing.
The MacBook Neo comes in four fun colors and features a 13-inch Liquid Retina display with 2408×1506 resolution, 500 nits brightness, and anti-reflective coating. The display has no notch, instead featuring uniform, iPad-style bezels.
The $599 price tag leads to a bit of a drop compared to more expensive Mac laptops, but the MacBook Neo will likely be popular with students, those new to the Mac, and other budget shoppers looking for basic capabilities.
Apple announces iPhone 17e with A19 Chip, MagSafe, and more
Apple this week announced the iPhone 17e, with the A19 chip, MagSafe connectivity, fast charging, and more.
The iPhone 17e contains the A19 chip introduced in the iPhone 17, with a 6-core CPU and a 4-core GPU that makes it up to 2× faster than the iPhone 11 that most consumers are likely to upgrade to. The new Neural Engine 16 is designed for large production models, and iPhone 17e contains the latest generation Apple C1X modem from iPhone Air, delivering mobile performance up to 2× faster than iPhone 16e.
The iPhone 17e starts at $599 and comes in black, white, and a new soft pink color.
Apple Unveils MacBook Pro Combining M5 Pro and M5 Max Chips with New Fusion Architecture
Returning to the Mac side of things, this week Apple saw new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, both built on the new Fusion Architecture that combines the third generation of 3nm heritage into a single chip using advanced packaging.
The Fusion Architecture is a first for Apple silicon, as previous chips used a single-die design. The two tied dies are the CPU, GPU, Media Engine, Neural Engine, integrated memory controller, and Thunderbolt 5 power together.
The new MacBook Pro models also get improved memory and storage, the Apple N1 networking chip for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 support, and more.
Apple Introduces All-New Studio Display XDR: 120Hz, Mini-LED, and more
Alongside the new Mac laptops, Apple introduced not only one but two new external displays: the slightly updated Studio Display and the high-end Studio Display XDR that replaces the Pro Display XDR.
Both new displays measure 27 inches with 5K resolution, but the Studio Display XDR features mini-LED lighting with a 120Hz refresh rate and Dynamic Sync, among other improvements.
The Studio Display is priced starting at $1,599, while the Studio Display XDR starts at $3,299.
Apple Unveils iPad Air With M4 Chip, Increased RAM, Wi-Fi 7, and More
Apple’s tablet lineup also received an update this week thanks to the new iPad Air, with significant upgrades including the Apple M4 chip for faster processing, increased RAM to 12GB, Apple’s N1 wireless networking chip with Wi-Fi 7 support, and the Apple C1X custom modem for cellular models.
The new iPad Air has the same overall design as the previous generation model, which was equipped with an M3 chip, 8GB of RAM, and Wi-Fi 6E support.
The new iPad Air is available in the same blue, purple, star, and space gray colors as the previous generation, and still starts at $599 for the 11-inch model and $799 for the 13-inch model.
Apple Announces MacBook Air With M5 Chip and 512GB Base Storage
Last but not least is the MacBook Air, updated this week with an M5 chip and a higher base SSD capacity.
The M5 chip in the MacBook Air has a 10-core CPU, with what Apple calls the fastest CPU cores in the world. It offers a configuration of up to 10 GPU cores with Neural Accelerators in each core, delivering up to 4× faster performance of AI tasks than a MacBook Air with an M4 chip.
Starting prices for the MacBook Air are up $100 to $1,099 for the 13-inch model and $1,299 for the 15-inch model, but that also gets you twice the base storage price at 512GB as the previous generation. The SSD also has 2× faster read and write performance compared to the previous generation.
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