Apple’s anticipated January 2026 release of a new budget MacBook, featuring a 13” screen and powerful A18 or A19 Pro chips, is set to revolutionise the ultrabook market with a price range of R13,000 to R15,000 in South Africa. Picture: Michael Sherman/IOL
Image: Michael Sherman/IOL
Possibly the biggest product release of 2026 is set to be announced this month, and that’s the unveiling of the new budget MacBook by Apple, which is set to shake up the ultrabook and laptop market in a massive way.
The rumours about a new low-cost MacBook intensified in the latter part of 2025, but the latest news is now that this offering from Apple is expected to be released in January.
The current cheapest laptop in the Apple lineup is the M1 Air, which came out in 2020, and is currently being sold for R12,999. This laptop will likely be discontinued soon, making way for the new low-cost MacBook in its place.
The new MacBook is likely to feature a 13” screen, slightly smaller than the 13.6” ones used in the current M4 MacBook Air design.
The new MacBook would be a reintroduction of the model launched in 2015. Back then, the laptop featured a 12” screen, the awful butterfly keyboard, and a severely underpowered Intel processor.
The design was way ahead of its time, and the hardware could not keep up as it was prone to overheating and would freeze if you tried to do basically anything on the device.
Now, it’s a different story as the processor that would be used for a new MacBook would either be an A18 Pro or, less likely, an A19 Pro chip, which are the same ones used in the iPhone 16 Pro and new iPhone 17 Pro models.
The processing power of these chips is roughly the equivalent of the 2020 M1 MacBook Air. The M1 Air was the first MacBook to use the new Apple silicon chip after the company moved away from the underpowered and battery-sapping Intel processors.
The rumours are that the new MacBook could retail between 500 and 600 dollars in the US, which works out to R10,368. Adding in import costs to South Africa and the Maximus price should therefore not be between R13,000 and R15,000.
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