Thursday, March 12, 2026

Asus exec: Apple’s MacBook Neo is a ‘shock to the entire market,’ tries tagging it as a ‘content consumption’ devi…

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Asus exec: Apple’s MacBook Neo is a ‘shock to the entire market,’ tries tagging it as a ‘content consumption’ device

MacDailyNews

Mar 12

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Apple’s $599 MacBook Neo has stunned lower-priced competitors, including Asus, peddler of plastic junk laptops. Priced $500 below the current MacBook Air, the MacBook Neo represents a major disruption.

Asus CFO Nick Wu described the ultra-affordable machine as “certainly a shock to the entire market,” then immediately tried to denigrate MacBook Neo as a tablet-like content consumption device.

Jordan Hart for Business Insider:
‎

Apple is entering unfamiliar territory with a $599 MacBook, and competitors are noticing.
The tech giant is known for high price tags on pretty much all of its gadgets, but every once and while it offers an affordable option for those who want a lower price point. Such is the case with the new MacBook Neo it revealed in March.
The drop is making waves in the laptop business as Apple enters a new price bracket. Taiwanese PC maker Asus fielded questions about the impact of the affordable MacBook Neo during its earnings call on Tuesday.
“Given Apple’s historically very premium pricing, launching such an affordable product is certainly a shock to the entire market,” Asus financial chief Nick Wu said, according to a transcript translated to English that was published by Seeking Alpha.
However, he said Asus observed “limitations” in the MacBook Neo, such as its 8 GB of memory, which may limit certain applications.
“This differs somewhat from mainstream notebook usage scenarios,” Wu said. “The Neo feels more like a tablet, because tablets are mostly for content consumption.”

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MacDailyNews Take: Trying to tag MacBook Neo as a “content consumption” machine isn’t going to work, ye peddler of cheap plastic junk. Independent MacBook Neo reviews all bear this out.

The fear from the likes of Asus et al. is palpable

Everyone who experiences macOS via an inexpensive MacBook Neo isn’t going back to a Windows laptop or Chromebook. It’s a one-way street. Asus’ Wu and the rest of the junk PC laptop peddlers are right to be soiling themselves.

And, as Wu likely knows but would never publicly admit, 8GB in Apple Silicon is vastly different than 8GB of RAM in some shitty plastic Asus laptop.

The 8GB of memory in the MacBook Neo’s A18 Pro chip is fundamentally different than the typical 8GB RAM in an Asus laptop due to Apple’s unified memory architecture (UMA).

MacBook Neo (with A18 Pro + 8GB unified memory) is up to 50% faster in everyday tasks and 3x faster in AI workloads vs. comparable 8GB Intel-based PCs.

In a nutshell: A cheap Asus laptop with 8GB RAM would often feel horribly constrained under load due to its fragmented architecture, while A18 Pro’s 8GB unified memory in MacBook Neo punches well above its spec weight.

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Apple CEO Tim Cook posts open letter to customers: ’50 Years of Thinking Different’

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Apple CEO Tim Cook posts open letter to customers: ’50 Years of Thinking Different’

MacDailyNews

Mar 12

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Steve Jobs in front of the garage where Apple was born at 2066 Crist Drive, Los Altos, California in 2006

Tim Cook via Apple:
‎

Fifty years ago in a small garage, a big idea was born. Apple was founded on the simple notion that technology should be personal, and that belief — radical at the time — changed everything.
April 1st marks 50 years of Apple. From the first Apple computer to the Mac, from iPod to iPhone, iPad to Apple Watch and AirPods, as well as the services we use every day — the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, iCloud, and Apple TV — we’ve spent five decades rethinking what’s possible and putting powerful tools into people’s hands. Through every breakthrough, one idea has guided us — that the world is moved forward by people who think different.
That’s because progress always begins with someone — an inventor or scientist, a student or storyteller — who imagines a better way, a new idea, a different path. That spirit has guided Apple from the start. But it has never belonged to us alone.
Every invention we bring into the world is just the beginning of a story. The most meaningful chapters are written by all of you — the people who use our technology to work, learn, dream, and discover. You’ve made breakthroughs and launched businesses. You’ve cheered up loved ones in the hospital and captured your toddler’s first steps. You’ve run marathons, written books, and rekindled friendships. You’ve chased your curiosity, found your new favorite song, and shared stories that connect us all.
In your hands, the tools we make have improved lives, and sometimes even saved them. And that is what inspires us — not what technology can do alone, but everything you can do with it.
At Apple, we’re more focused on building tomorrow than remembering yesterday. But we couldn’t let this milestone pass without thanking the millions of people who make Apple what it is today — our incredible teams around the world, our developer community, and every customer who has joined us on this journey. Your ideas inspire our work. Your trust drives us to do better. Your stories remind us of all we can accomplish when we think different.
If you’ve taught us anything, it’s that the people crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.
So here’s to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
Here’s to you.
Tim Cook

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MacDailyNews Take: In the end, the best ideas always win – and Steve’s are still winning big, many decades later.

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iPhone Fold expected to offer 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage options, cost upwards of $2,999

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iPhone Fold expected to offer 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage options, cost upwards of $2,999

MacDailyNews

Mar 12

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New CAD renders show Apple's rumored foldable iPhone design — New CAD renders show Apple’s rumored foldable iPhone design

Weibo leaker Instant Digital, who has a strong track record with Apple rumors, has posted that Apple’s anticipated book-style foldable “iPhone Fold” will be available in three storage configurations, with the following estimated prices:

• 256GB: ~$2,320
• 512GB: ~$2,610
• 1TB: ~$2,900

Tim Hardwick for AppleInsider:
‎

For context, Apple presently offers the iPhone 17 Pro in the same three storage options – 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB – with the iPhone 17 Pro Max offered in a fourth 2TB storage option costing $1,999. Note that the corresponding storage prices shown above are approximate USD conversions from Chinese yuan at the current exchange rate, and shouldn’t be taken as reflective of the final price in the U.S. As such, consider them ballpark figures.
The starting price of the foldable iPhone could be nearly twice as much as the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and Apple could put it somewhere between $1,800 and $2,500, which is double what the iPhone 17 Pro costs. The latest rumors suggest it will be on the higher side of that estimate, and these approximate storage tier prices appear to bear that out.

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MacDailyNews Take: So, $2,499 to start, $2,749 for 512GB, and $2,999 for 1TB. Who’s in? When you think of it as “an iPhone and an iPad mini,” the prices aren’t bad at all! This will be a an aspirational device in its first go-round that will sell in relatively low volume vs. the rest of the iPhone family, but which will also downsell the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.

The iPhone 18 Pro models will become the logical step-down, boosting their sales as the high-end iPhone alternative. Expect this to fuel at least a 10% bump in total iPhone shipments for 2026.

With “iPhone Fold,” Apple will clearly target the ultra-premium segment, appealing to early adopters and tech enthusiasts rather than mass-market buyers. This could limit its initial shipments to something like 10-15 million units in the first year (far below the 200+ million iPhones Apple typically moves annually) but still enough to grab a significant chunk (around 22% unit share and 34% of revenue) in the foldable smartphone category.

‎
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Thursday, March 12, 2026