The new MacBook Neo has apparently been a smash hit, and Apple will likely talk up its success at its next quarterly earnings call. But, in what can be considered a good problem to have, Apple is facing a bit of a supply chain predicament. Its stock of A18 Pro chips — the previous-gen iPhone processor that powers the Neo — is reportedly running low according to respected analyst Tim Culpan.
One of the ways Apple got the price of the Neo down was by using leftover, binned, A18 Pro chips that were originally destined for life inside iPhone 16 Pro. If it needs to ramp up production again, though, the laptop’s margins will be squeezed.
The MacBook Neo uses A18 Pros that were essentially discarded during their intended production run for iPhone 16 Pro. Chips that have slightly defective GPU were put aside and reused inside the Neo; this is why the Neo chips only have five working GPU cores, when the iPhone 16 Pro’s A18 Pro chip boasted six.
Culpan says Apple initially planned to make about 6 million MacBook Neos in total, using up the binned A18 Pro supplies. With demand now looking to exceed that amount, Apple is facing a bit of a quandary. Discussions about solutions are apparently taking place with supply chain partners right now.
