Apple takes on cheap Windows laptops and Chromebooks with the $599 MacBook Neo

Right on the heels of the iPhone 17e, new iPad and MacBook Air, Apple also announced a new laptop at a great price. It’s a low-cost ($599) multicolor Mac, running on an iPhone chipset with most, but not all, of the hardware features you find on the MacBook Air and Pro. All MacBook Neo models come with an extremely limited 8GB of RAM, which could be the main productivity bottleneck for demanding tasks.

The Neo has a 13-inch Retina display, a 1080p webcam, two USB-C ports, a headphone jack, and optional Touch ID, if you’re willing to pay a little more. There’s been a lot of talk about whether Apple is marching to the beat of its own drum again, in a year of RAM shortages and AI obsessions. This is a direct attack on cheap Windows laptops and underperforming Chromebooks. Tent ? Check out our first impressions from the Apple event earlier this week, right here. Oh, and for everything Apple announced, we’ve rounded up all the news here.

–Mat Smith

Other big stories this week

Design-wise, it looks a little safer than the company’s usual.

There’s no Nothing Phone 4 flagship this year, but the company has put a lot of effort into making its A series near-flagship, including a notable design pivot with the Phone 4a Pro. The transparent back is now made of aluminum and Nothingesthetic branding has been inserted into the camera unit. Maybe it’s more adult, but a little less fun? That said, the huge camera bump on the Nothing 3a Pro last year is no more. Both 4a phones are stylish smartphones. The company has also significantly improved its devices, with better cameras, more battery, and improved screens. Only the 4a Pro will arrive in the US later this month.

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The stealth upgrade.

While MWC 2026 offered us many Chinese smartphones ready to amaze us, established player Samsung managed to surprise us with its S26 Ultra the previous week. Sure, it doesn’t bring many major improvements, but it does bring subtle improvements across the board, as well as a remarkable new display for anyone who cares about privacy.

Privacy View is the standout new feature – one we’ve never seen before on a smartphone. When you turn on the privacy display and look at the phone from less than the front, everything goes black, like those screen protectors with privacy stickers, but on a hardware level.

The S26 ultra can even selectively enable Privacy View in specific situations, activating when you receive notifications or open certain apps (like for banking or authenticators). The phone can also enable this feature when you need to enter a PIN, pattern, or password, although this only affects system-level prompts, such as your lock screen.

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The company promises to keep “filmmakers at the center of the process.”

What could go wrong?

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