There’s a rumour floating around that sounds like a joke. Apple is said to be working on a cheaper MacBook that will run on the A18 Pro chip, the same chip powering last year’s iPhone 16 Pro.
We’re not talking about an M-series chip but an iPhone chip. In a MacBook.
You might laugh at that, thinking about how Apple sheep will probably buy and praise such a joke of an idea. It sounds like Apple is hanging with the Dombo boys, putting a phone chip in a laptop and calling it innovation.
But take a moment to look at what the A18 Pro is actually capable of, and you find yourself thinking this could be brilliant. Then you will look in the mirror and not recognise the Apple sheep staring back at you.
Because the A18 Pro, even nearly a year after launch, is still one of the most powerful chips Apple has ever made.
The numbers don’t lie
In benchmark tests, which are ways of measuring how powerful a device is, the A18 Pro is impressive.
Geekbench 6 is a common test to find out how fast your computer’s chip is. It makes the chip perform tasks you do in typical use, like editing pictures, compressing files to save space, or using smart features.
The higher the score it gets, the faster your computer’s chip can handle these jobs.
These scores are split into two main categories:
- Single-core performance tells us how fast the chip is at handling one task at a time, eg. loading a website or launching an app.
- Multi-core performance shows how well it handles many tasks at once, like having a bunch of browser tabs open while streaming music and downloading files in the background.
In those tests, the A18 Pro actually beats the M1, Apple’s ‘revolutionary’ laptop chip from 2020, in single-core performance.
That’s significant because the M1 didn’t just outperform Intel chips when it launched, it changed the whole conversation about performance whilst not using too much power. And the A18 Pro does all that in a phone, with no fan and on battery power.
Even in multi-core scores, the A18 Pro competes against the M1, often beating it. That’s the same M1 chip still powering many MacBooks in 2025, and still more than fast enough for most people.
Now imagine taking that iPhone chip and putting it inside a bigger device like a MacBook. With more space to cool down and no need to conserve battery as aggressively as phones need to, the chip could run even faster and for longer without slowing down.
Suddenly, the idea of using a phone chip in a laptop doesn’t sound ridiculous at all. Suddenly, you start to sound like an Apple sheep.
So, are these benchmarks fair?
Mostly, yes.
Geekbench is designed to run the same kinds of tests across devices, like editing pictures, squishing files, or using smart features, and so on.
That means a score from an iPhone can be compared to a score from a MacBook or even a Windows laptop. Single-core scores, in particular, give a good picture of raw performance.
But it’s important to remember that phones are built for power efficiency, not pure performance.
The A18 Pro has to work with a small phone body and no fan running to cool it, and battery constraints because phones have to operate mostly unplugged.
So, moving the A18 Pro it into a MacBook, even if it remains fanless, the chip could run faster, for longer.
So it’s not just a recycled iPhone chip, it’s an underutilised beast finally getting the room it needs to flex its muscles.
A $699 price tag changes everything
If the rumours are true and Apple prices this new MacBook around US$699 to $799, then this could be huge, like Trabablas huge.
We’re talking about a proper macOS laptop with M series performance at Chromebook prices. That’s going to make a lot of people, from casual users to even small businesses, think about Macbooks for the first time.
And yes, even here in Zimbabwe, this could be huge. While Apple products are rarely ‘cheap’ by the time they land on our shelves, a sub-$700 MacBook with excellent performance, long battery life, and no fan noise would be snapped up.
Especially when compared to the often slow, plasticky Windows laptops you usually find in that price range.
Apple magic
This isn’t the first time Apple has repurposed its iPhone chips. The M1 itself was based on the A14. Which actually means we should expect the A18 Pro to work well in a laptop.
Think of it this way, Apple has been making really good chips for iPhones and iPads, and these chips have been like building blocks for their powerful Mac computer chips.
What’s happening now is that Apple is smart about it, they’re making those iPhone and iPad chips so good that they can now power some of their laptops directly.
This means they can build more chips in total, save money, and create new, cheaper MacBooks without hurting the image of their fancier models.
And let’s be honest, if anyone can make this work, it’s Apple. Spoken like the Apple sheep I’ve apparently become. And if you’ve made it this far, you might be one too.
Who’s the sheep now?
Putting an iPhone chip into a MacBook might sound silly, until you look at the data. The A18 Pro is a beast, and in a laptop body, it could punch well above its weight.
Pair that with a $699 price point, and this rumoured MacBook could shake up the entry-level laptop world when it comes out in 2026.
This would no doubt benefit Windows users too because those entry level and second hand laptops would have to get even cheaper so people don’t just get the Macbooks.
And so once again, the rest of the industry will have to scramble to catch up. This time around, I really hope with all my heart that Apple succeeds in this endeavour, even if I end up not switching from team Windows.
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