A game-changer for the ultrabook market

Possibly the largest product launch of 2026 is about to be introduced this month, and that’s the disclosing of the brand new funds MacBook by Apple, which is about to shake up the ultrabook and laptop computer market in a large approach.

The rumours a few new low-cost MacBook intensified within the latter a part of 2025, however the newest information is now that this providing from Apple is predicted to be launched in January.

The present most cost-effective laptop computer within the Apple lineup is the M1 Air, which got here out in 2020, and is at present being bought for R12,999. This laptop computer will doubtless be discontinued quickly, making approach for the brand new low-cost MacBook as an alternative.

The new MacBook is more likely to characteristic a 13” display, barely smaller than the 13.6” ones used within the present M4 MacBook Air design.

The new MacBook: A Reintroduction with A18 or A19 Pro Chips and Enhanced Performance

The new MacBook can be a reintroduction of the mannequin launched in 2015. Back then, the laptop computer featured a 12” display, the terrible butterfly keyboard, and a severely underpowered Intel processor.

The design was approach forward of its time, and the {hardware} couldn’t sustain because it was susceptible to overheating and would freeze in case you tried to do mainly something on the system.

Now, it’s a unique story because the processor that may be used for a brand new MacBook would both be an A18 Pro or, much less doubtless, an A19 Pro chip, that are the identical ones used within the iPhone 16 Pro and new iPhone 17 Pro fashions.

The processing energy of those chips is roughly the equal of the 2020 M1 MacBook Air. The M1 Air was the primary MacBook to make use of the brand new Apple silicon chip after the corporate moved away from the underpowered and battery-sapping Intel processors.

The rumours are that the brand new MacBook may retail between 500 and 600 {dollars} within the US, which works out to R10,368. Adding in import prices to South Africa and the Maximus value ought to subsequently not be between R13,000 and R15,000.

@Michael_Sherman

IOL Tech