MacBook Neo Is Selling TOO Well...

It's looking like the MacBook Neo was such a big hit, um, we're going to run out just permanently. At least according to the latest edition of the Culpium newsletter. Let's begin.

So, remember the chip in the MacBook Neo, how it was the same chip that was in the iPhone 16 Pro? Well, uh, funny thing about that little chip called the A18 Pro. it uh went in an iPhone that they're not really selling or building that much of anymore. So, the whole plan I guess from the beginning was to use some of the bend chips from the iPhone 16 Pro line because obviously this iPhone processor is just way too powerful for a MacBook. And that's why they were putting in the five core GPU chip in the MacBook Neo whereas my phone has a six core GPU. I know, so

different. But apparently they had stockpiled a bunch of A18 Pro chips with the 5 core GPU from the assembly process of the iPhone 16 Pro, but the demand has just been so insanely large for the MacBook Neo. It's funny how that works, right? You like knock off $500 from the MacBook line and suddenly everybody wants a MacBook all of the sudden. And Tim Culpin, who is a Taiwanese-based journalist, is reporting that Apple had basically allotted for about five to six million of these chips to go towards MacBook Neo production. But the demand is so strong that it's looking more and more likely they're simply going to run out of these chips before the MacBook Neo gets refreshed next year. In case you're wondering, yes, there are already rumors for the next generation MacBook Neo, which if all goes according to plan, should make the jump to the A19 Pro chip found in the iPhone 17 Pro series, which means yes, we could be looking at MacBook Neos with 12 gigs of unified memory, probably not 16. And also decent chance that uh you'll have to spend more to get the 12 gigs of memory. The base model might stick with eight. But the problem with this dilemma is that you might just think, well, if the Neo's so popular, just make some more chips, right? Why doesn't Apple just increase their orders from TSMC and say, "Hey, we need some more of those chips. " Well, it turns out these chips are built on the second generation 3 nanmter process called N3E. And all the production lines for the N3E generation of chips are currently running at full capacity. So, it's not even really a money problem. It's literally a TSMC supply chain bottleneck now of like, yeah, we can't keep building this many chips. They've got other customers

including Apple who's asking them to keep ramping production of other chips. So, this is very unlike Apple, but with the increasing shipping delays of the MacBook Neo, there could be a scenario where later this year they straight up just sell out of the MacBook Neo or at least of the base trim. Culpin in his own newsletter also speculates that they might reach a point where they don't let you buy the MacBook Neo for $599 or $4. 99 anymore. they might force everybody to get the 512 gig variant, you know, the one that comes with Touch ID, which honestly is still not a bad deal at all. Half a terabyte with Touch ID included still for 700 bucks, it's still substantially cheaper than a MacBook Air, but it is a bit closer enough to get people to start thinking whether or not they actually want the Neo or would they rather have a more powerful MacBook with a slightly bigger display and a backlit keyboard with Mag Safe and all that. It is an interesting dilemma that we might find out more about later this year depending on what Apple does with the configurator. But at least my personal prediction, if I had to throw in my own narrative here, it's that either they're going to ask for more A19 Pro chips in advance and try to get TSMC to beef up the assembly line so that they're ready for the next generation MacBook Neo. Or another

hypothetical, they might not use A19 Pro chips in the future. they might downspec them to just regular A19. Or if that's not fast enough, they might just go straight to the A20 chip next year, which is the same chip found in the iPhone 18 series, just to have a little bit more overhead and not have to worry about like keeping old chips in production longer than they really need to be. But not to worry, Tim Cook is a supply chain mastermind, so if there is a solution, I'm sure they'll find it out. But it's just funny because this kind of report is so rare for Apple to get to the point where they made a product that they're selling so well they might actually have to turn off orders for it because of supply chain issues, which is just not usually something you read about with Apple headlines. Worst case scenario, if Apple decides that the demand for the Neo is too good, they're probably analyzing this right now. And I'm very curious to

see what the sales data looks like for the Neo versus the Air. That would be fascinating to watch. And my personal guess is that if the Air dips down too low and not enough people are buying it and way more people are just going for the Neo, I will predict that the next year's version of the MacBook Neo that might have more unified memory or maybe some more default storage might see a price hike. And it doesn't really have anything to do with profit margins. It might simply just come down to Apple feels like they underpriced the Neo because their goal is likely not to kill off the MacBook Air, but still have a cheaper MacBook in the lineup. I'm not sure. How would you guys feel about the MacBook Neo starting with 512 gigs by default and 12 gigs of unified memory, but now the base spec is $6. 99 instead of 599, but maybe through education you could still get 599. I personally think that's still an incredible deal and I would still recommend the product even at a hundred bucks more. But how do you guys feel about it? Feel free to let me know your thoughts down in the comments below. And thank you to everybody supporting this channel directly. Seriously, helps us out a ton, as does just watching these videos. So, thanks again. This is your Al Shapir. I'll see you all in the next one.