Apple Might Announce Colorful, Low-Cost MacBook on March 4

Gizmodo · Feb 17, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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In about two weeks, on March 4, Apple is going to announce something. Maybe a bunch of somethings. That’s about all we can glean from the invite the company sent to Gizmodo. The “Apple Experience,” held in New York City (and London and Shanghai), shows an Apple logo made up of yellow, green, and light blue discs. Is it a hint at what’s to come? Cannot wait to see the rumored low-cost MacBook—MacBook E?! pic.twitter.com/n2orr64wIy — Ray Wong (@raywongy) February 17, 2026 Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says Apple could be hinting at the colors that the long-rumored low-cost MacBook could launch in. In his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman said Apple “developed a new manufacturing process” that allows the aluminum shells to be created faster. It could also be the reason why Apple is finally introducing more fun colors to its laptops. Gurman said Apple has also tested pink, silver, and dark gray, but doesn’t believe the low-cost MacBook will ship in every tested shade. This new MacBook is expected to be unusual for several reasons. The first is, of course, the cost—rumored to be a few hundred dollars less than the 13-inch MacBook Air with M4 chip, which starts at $999. That laptop is arguably one of the best values you can buy, considering it has 16GB of RAM and the performant M4 chip, all packed into a slim design that weighs only 2.7 pounds. How low will Apple go with pricing for a laptop that’s expected to come in at just under 13 inches? $799? $699? $599? At a time when electronics are getting more expensive because of the great RAM and storage shortage—an industry problem created by AI data centers gobbling up the components from suppliers—Apple announcing a laptop that costs less instead of more would earn it a lot of points with consumers. The second reason I’m so intrigued is that the laptop will reportedly be powered by an iPhone chip—the A18 Pro. For those keeping track, that’s the same chip inside of the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max. If you’re looking at the A18 Pro chip and thinking it’ll be insufficient, let me remind you that it’s “46% faster than the M1 in single-core tasks, and almost identical to the M1 on multi-core and graphics tasks,” according to Six Colors’ Jason Snell. For basic computing such as web browsing, watching videos, and working with documents, this low-cost computer could really sing. In fact, it might even have better battery performance than a MacBook Air with M-series silicon. And third is, yes, the colors. Look, as much as I love silver and space gray, it’s about damn time that Apple gets playful with the MacBook. The iMac with M4 chip has fun colors, so why not Apple’s laptops? A variety of colors would help market the low-cost MacBook as anything but boring. New MacBook Air and MacBook Pros, too? The low-cost MacBook is expected to be the highlight of Apple’s March 4 event, but we could also see a new MacBook Air with M5 chip and updated 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros with beefier M5 Pro and M5 Max chips “over the course of the next several weeks,” according to Gurman. The Bloomberg reporter also said on X that he’s expecting new Mac displays, referring to an updated version of the Apple Studio Display, possibly with a rumored higher 90Hz refresh rate. “There’s also a new Mac Studio, iMac and Mac mini this year. Huge year for the Mac. And that doesn’t even include the touch MacBook Pro end of 2026.” iPhone 17e and new iPads On the smartphone and tablet front, Apple might announce a refreshed version of its $599 iPhone 16e, expected to be called the iPhone 17e. The more affordable iPhone with a 6-core CPU and 6-core GPU is reportedly “imminent”, according to Gurman. Meanwhile, a 12th-gen entry-level iPad with an A18 chip could also be right around the corner. Similarly, Gurman believes that new iPad Airs with M4 chips are “coming soon.”