Rumour has it that Apple's first ARM-backed MacBooks will be hundreds of dollars cheaper than the company's current Intel-powered devices. The main source of savings will be Apple's in-house chipsets, which the company will seemingly pass onto consumers.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-s-ARM-based-MacBooks-may-be-significantly-cheaper-than-the-current-Intel-powered-machines.483235.0.html
Apple lowering prices.... yeah right..
I predict a price increase instead, and a lot of analyst have said the same thing.
Yep, anyone who thinks apple will drop their prices are deluded.
Price will increase, apple will claim it's "magic"
Cheaper for Apple, that's all.
Thanks for the opinion piece. I think we're all going to wait to see what Apple actually does.
Definetely, we would have to wait for them to release the final product.
However, there may be some logic for them to lowering prices; as has been suggested from analists, Apple is transitioning from a Hardware-Focused Company to a Online-Services Focused Company (Apple TV, Apple Music, Apple Arcade, et. all).
Long-term growth strategy focuses not in rising profit margins from current hardware, but to increase the amount of people using their services. Hardware may be seen as a way to reach more potential customers and wrap them in the Apple Ecosystem.
So, they already have high-end markets saturated with iDevices and MacPros.
The Iphone SE, the more affordable iPhone 11, and the 329 USD 10.2" iPad are example of that strategy into play, and those have raised the sales of Apple and therefore the reach to new customers into their ecosystem.
Is not outrageous to imagine they could grow their market share importantly with a more afforable MacBook. The very old 700USD old-design MacBook Air remained one of the best-selling laptops in Amazon, way way after new designs were released by Apple. It would still have "mediocre hardware" by Apple-Standards (Like using an Old A10/A11 processor, like the one from the iPad 10.2, but still will be way faster than current low-end Intel processors).
This is nuts. The $999 MacBook Air has an Intel i3 that costs $75 retail and as little as $20 in bulk direct from Intel. So even were the Intel CPU absolutely free the MacBook Air would still cost $960-$980. So where on earth does the $799 figure come from? Especially since the state of the art 5nm A14 (which Apple may not even use in MacBooks as rumor has it that they will use the 8 core chips for mobile devices and a new class of 12 core chips for their laptops) will cost significantly more than a $20 Intel i3, which is based on 5 year old 14nm process technology?
Ramsey
The more affordable iPhone 11 is more expensive than the iPhone 7 was at launch. It is about maintaining their existing non pro users. And Apple is interested in gross margins on hardware. Otherwise the 10.2 in iPad would have an ancient process and limited Ram that make it basically a media device barely able to play Minecraft. Or the SE wouldnt have an ancient screen and battery. The only reason the SE has a modern processor is Apple over ordered them..
If it is possible to install linux on this Arm monster (MacBook pro) I will buy it!
It is possible for Apple to reduce prices and profit margin at this point just to promote the Apple-arm products and lure traditional x86 users.
Whatever happens, there must be more sustainable development with software and gaming companies, to make this ARM technology more compatible. It's amazing the battery autonomy of the ARM laptops in usage, a little less in sleep or hibernate, but this is truly the future of ultrabooks, we have reach the limits of thermal dissipation with the old school thinking of Intel, Nvidia and AMD. These laptops also benefit from great thermals, to say the least, if it wasn't for the low compatibility with software and games, I would already have purchased one. If all goes well, in 2-3 years software, 3-5 years for games, everything should be much better.