ylee 14 hours ago

If this is true, it will be a significant change in strategy. The company has always played upmarket. Average iPhone prices have risen since the first iPhone 18 years ago, as opposed to falling. Around that time, I heard Apple's CFO say at a Citigroup-hosted investor conference that his company could release a $799 computer "but we don't want to".

  • musicale 5 hours ago

    The original Mac mini was $499 in 2005.

    But Apple had already released a $799 laptop - the eMate 300 in 1997.

    Ahead of its time - ARM processor, 28-hour battery life, flash storage, wireless modem card. Its curved, translucent case design (with a handle!) was echoed in the iMac (1998) and iBook (1999).

    It also appears to have come with a decent keyboard.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMate_300

  • ekropotin 13 hours ago

    Even 799$ is a waaaay too expensive for something to be considered chrome books competitor.

  • giraffe_lady 13 hours ago

    The mac mini is $599? Shit a base macbook air is $899.

m463 11 hours ago

an ipad at costco is $299

I wonder how much more expensive a laptop would be?

wslh 15 hours ago

> Apple held about 9% of the global PC market in the third quarter, according to IDC. It ranks fourth in the industry, trailing Lenovo Group Ltd., HP Inc. and Dell Technologies Inc. — all of which sell Windows or ChromeOS devices.

I think it makes perfect sense, there's still plenty of room to grow here, and they clearly know how to do it. I'm just curious which specs they'll decide to cut or define. Even an M1 with 8 GB of RAM is still very capable today. I only hope they don't launch a new operating system variety for this, just the same macOS. I can't imagine a "macOS Home Edition".

  • musicale 4 hours ago

    > Apple held about 9% of the global PC market

    Tablet market is growing while PC market isn't. iPads already outsell Macs on a unit basis.

    > I can't imagine a "macOS Home Edition"

    https://www.apple.com/os/ipados/

  • ppeetteerr 13 hours ago

    An article mentioned that it will be an iOS chip