If Apple is truly learning from the Mac Book Neo, it should return the i Phone to its $199 roots | Tech Radar

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If Apple is truly learning from the Mac Book Neo, it should return the i Phone to its $199 roots

Affordability could be a global-market-winning mantra

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Apple is selling an insane number of Mac Book Neos, so much so that it's now trying to adjust production to meet demand. People want the Mac Book Neo in ways they have never wanted a Mac Book before. It's a near-perfect blend of Apple quality and affordability, and it's opened the floodgates to consumers who thought they could never afford a Mac Book. I expect this to be one of Apple's most popular products of the decade, and I hope that it teaches the tech giant a valuable lesson:

As of this moment, the cheapest i Phone you can buy is the $599 i Phone 17e. Despite being a "budget" phone, we described it in our review thusly: "the 17e feels like a more complete and modern member of the i Phone lineup."

The Mac Book Neo isn't just cheap — it's cheaper and easier to repair too

I love the Mac Book Neo and its wild colors — but Apple missed a big trick with the i Phone 17e

Apple says 'life is just better on a Mac' — and the $599 Mac Book Neo may be its smartest pitch yet

Does that price sound familiar? It should. This budget smartphone costs as much as Apple's most affordable laptop: the aforementioned Mac Book Neo. Sure, the i Phone 17e has a slightly better chip (the A19 as opposed to the Neo's A18 Pro), but that performance difference is probably nominal, at best. They do match each other on 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, by the way.

We pay quite a premium for pocketability, but does it make sense for them to be priced the same? Maybe. On the other hand, the Mac Book Neo reminds us that the first thing most consumers consider in a purchase decision is price.

When the i Phone launched almost 20 years ago, it was priced at

Once carriers figured out how to shoulder the full cost of the phone and let you pay off monthly, price became a construct. It was something that only existed as the thing Apple announced on launch, and that was quickly subsumed into years of monthly payments to your carrier.

Basically, we're paying anywhere from

According to Counterpoint, Apple has roughly 25% of the global smartphone market, which beats Samsung's 18% but falls below "Others" 30%. If you ask me, Apple has a huge opportunity here because that "Others" is probably made up of a bunch of affordable handset makers, companies offering smartphones for $300 or less, and often with features that compare favorably to what Apple's offering in its mid-tier i Phone 17.

Tecno, which does not sell in the US, offers the Tecno Spark 50 5G with a 50MP camera, a 64000m Ah battery, and military-grade shock resistance for roughly

Why the new Mac Book Neo is already the most important product of 2026

Apple's Mac Book Neo nails the netbook by being nothing like it

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It's understandable that Apple (and its competitors like Samsung and Google) charge more in the affluent US market. People know these phones are expensive, but they hide the pain in those monthly payments.

The Mac Book Neo, though, is proving that consumers are desperate for a deal, especially one that marries affordability to quality. As experiment after experiment I've run has proven, the Mac Book Neo is that mix. Somehow, without cutting visible corners, Apple delivered a tiny, ready-for-work-and-play system that outshines all the rest of the budget competition.

This is a system that's as well-built as something costing hundreds more and is an absolute pleasure to look at and use. And you never have to tell yourself, "It cost a fortune, but then look at how it works, look at the design." Instead, you can boast about how you got more than your money's worth.

I'm not calling for all i Phones to be

Can you imagine how many i Phones Apple would sell around the world if the doorway to one of the best smartphone brands on the market opened at under

The Mac Book Neo will continue to outsell the budget PC competition and make waves. Let's see what Apple does about them and how it affects the prices of other Apple product lines.

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A 38-year industry veteran and award-winning journalist, Lance has covered technology since PCs were the size of suitcases and “on line” meant “waiting.” He’s a former Lifewire Editor-in-Chief, Mashable Editor-in-Chief, and, before that, Editor in Chief of PCMag.com and Senior Vice President of Content for Ziff Davis, Inc. He also wrote a popular, weekly tech column for Medium called The Upgrade.

Lance Ulanoff makes frequent appearances on national, international, and local news programs including Live with Kelly and Mark, the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNBC, CNN, and the BBC.

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• If Apple is truly learning from the Mac Book Neo, it should return the i Phone to its $199 roots