Apple's budget MacBook is reportedly not plastic, and is rumored to get vibrant colors echoing the the 24-inch iMac for its aluminum enclosure.

The MacBook Air and MacBook Pro lines are relatively limited when it comes to appearance, with the Air sold in four muted shades and the Pro in just two. When it comes to the much-rumored MacBook with an iPhone chip, it could expand the external color palette a lot more.

Writing in Sunday's "Power On" newsletter for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman claims that Apple will be going with playful colors. While it will be aimed at enterprise users as well, this seems to be a play to maximize sales with students.

Apple has apparently tested a variety of color options over the last year. This list includes light yellow, light green, blue, pink, classic silver, and dark gray.

Despite the array of colors being tested, it's doubtful that all will make it into the final product. However, with the 24-inch iMac sold in a massive seven colorways, it's plausible for Apple to provide a high number of color options for its inbound MacBook.

While Mark Gurman has a good record when it comes to accuracy, this is more a regurgitation of previous rumors. The wild colors were part of a June 2025 forecast by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who proposed silver, blue, pink, and yellow colorways.

Same strong casing

While Apple will be looking for ways to reduce the cost of the MacBook to match its lower price point versus the rest of the range, Apple still wants it to have the same external appearance as others.

One way that Apple could've cut costs is by replacing the usual aluminum casing with plastic or another cheaper material. Instead, Apple is sticking with aluminum and has change the manufacturing process to create the shells quicker.

The change will apparently be faster and more cost-effective versus the method used for the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. If successful, there's a chance that the same technique could be reused with the existing models in the future.

March expectations

According to previous rumors, the MacBook will ship with an iPhone-grade chip, such as the A18 Pro, instead of the Apple Silicon M-class chips seen in other models. It could arrive with a number of other small cost saving measures, such as reducing the USB-C port count and having just 8GB of memory.

While it is expected to have a 13-inch display, that panel may not be as high quality as the Air and Pro versions, to reduce manufacturing costs further. All to hit a price to consumers of around $699 to $750.

As for when it will arrive, the current favorite launch window is in March.