Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims that Apple's lower-cost MacBook, based on an iPhone processor, will start to be manufactured by the end of 2025.

It was Ming-Chi Kuo who in June 2025 first seriously claimed that Apple was designing a lower-cost MacBook, which would use an iPhone-style A-series processor. Prior to that, there were regular comparisons between the A-series and the Mac's M-series, but Kuo said a MacBook was planned with an A18 Pro processor.

He also slated manufacturing as being expected either at the end of 2025 or early in 2026. Now writing on Twitter, he's updated this estimate to say that mass production would begin during the fourth quarter of 2025.

That's not necessarily a substantially sooner start date than he previously predicted. It also does not mean that the MacBook will launch in 2025.

Given historical production to shipping timetables, it probably means a first calendar quarter 2026 release. Kuo added that a second generation model is due in 2027 which might feature a touchscreen display.

Other than that, Kuo added no further details about the MacBook. He has, though, previously said that it will have approximately a 13-inch screen, and come in silver, blue, pink, and yellow.

Kuo also reported that Apple hopes to sell between five million and seven million of the MacBook during calendar year 2026.

He has not actually described it as a lower-cost model, but the use of the A18 Pro processor from the iPhone 16 Pro implies that it must be. The A-series processors are smaller than M-series ones, and less costly to produce.

Plus it's difficult to see any daylight between the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro for a third model. Since any substantive improvements are likely to appear in the MacBook Pro first, a lower-cost model would seem to be the only option if Apple is to expand its range.

Kuo generally fails now to distinguish between his reports based on supply chain information, and ones that are solely his own guesses. But he did accompany this latest report with a separate tweet listing what he sees as his record of accuracy in Apple predictions.

Potentially backing up Kuo's claim of an A18 Pro-based MacBook, is a report from July 2025. It claimed that references to an unidentified Mac had been spotted in back-end Apple Intelligence code.