Apple's cheapest Mac is getting its first proper successor. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that the company is working on a second-generation MacBook Neo, expected in 2027 — possibly as early as March — with three headline changes, according to coverage from MacRumors and heise online.
The centerpiece is a processor upgrade. The current Neo, which went on sale in March 2026, pairs the A18 Pro from the iPhone 16 Pro generation with just 8GB of LPDDR5X memory — a combination that can push the machine into swapping data to its SSD under everyday multitasking. The follow-up is expected to move to the A19 Pro, the chip generation found in the iPhone 17 Pro. While the core count may not change, the faster silicon comes with 12GB of RAM as standard, giving the laptop noticeably more headroom for everyday work and local AI workloads.
The third rumored change is cosmetic: new color options. It is a small trick with a clear purpose — different shades make model years easy to tell apart, and for a machine pitched heavily at school and university students, a fresh color is a cheap way to tempt buyers. Even today the Neo is the most colorful Mac Apple sells, available in silver, blush pink, citrus and indigo.
One question remains unanswered: the price. The Neo launched at $599 in the US and around 700 euros in Europe, but Apple raised those prices to $699 and roughly 800 euros in June as part of a broader increase. Whether the second generation holds that level — or climbs again — is unclear, and the answer matters for the laptop's core audience of students.
The Neo update is not the only item on Apple's Mac roadmap. Gurman expects new M6 iMacs and a 14-inch M6 MacBook Pro before the new Neo, with an M6 MacBook Air following over the course of next year, alongside the previously rumored touchscreen MacBook Ultra. As with all pre-announcement reports, details and dates could still change.
