MacBook Neo, iPhone 17e and more

Apple promised a “big week” for the company as rumors swirled that it had several product announcements. It’s true that in the past few days it unveiled more powerful chips for MacBook Pros as well as half a dozen new and refreshed devices.

The news started on Monday with the announcement of the iPhone 17e and M4-powered iPad Air. The company on Tuesday unveiled the M5 MacBook Air, M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, MacBook Pro models using said chips, a refreshed Studio Display, and a brand new 27-inch Studio Display XDR.

Additionally, before the official announcement, Apple leaked news of a cheaper MacBook called the MacBook Neo. Oops! The company confirmed the existence of that system on Wednesday. Its price starts at $599, making it Apple’s most affordable laptop yet.

Here’s our summary of everything Apple announced this week:

iPhone 17E

Apple has dressed up this year’s entry-level iPhone with some solid upgrades, though keeping its starting price at $599. The iPhone 17e has double the base storage of the iPhone 16e at 256GB. It also has MagSafe support along with Qi2 wireless charging speeds of up to 15W, which is double that of the iPhone 16e.

Design-wise, Apple hasn’t been successful at all. The iPhone 17e looks very similar to its predecessor. Apple appears to be sticking with the same 48MP Fusion camera system as it used on the iPhone 16e as well.

As said, the 6.1-inch Super Retina display features Ceramic Shield 2. According to Apple, it “offers 3x better scratch resistance and less glare than the previous generation.” The company has also slotted its C1X cellular modem into the iPhone 17e. It says it is twice as fast as the C1 present in the iPhone 16e. The device has the same A19 chip as the iPhone 17, so it supports Apple Intelligence AI tools, and it runs iOS 26.

Additionally, the iPhone 17e has an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance, as well as the promise of “all-day battery life.” It also supports satellite-powered features including Emergency SOS, Roadside Assistance, Messaging and Find My.

Pre-orders for iPhone 17e are now open. It is available in black, white and light pink colors. The device will be available in more than 70 countries and regions on March 11.

ipad air m4

The latest iPad Air features Apple’s M4 chip. This means the mid-range iPad is effectively a year behind the iPad Pro. The M4 is almost two years old at this point, while the top-end model has the newer M5 chip. Still, if you only use the iPad for normal tasks like watching shows, web browsing, email, etc., the M4 will be powerful enough. It will be more efficient at handling resource-intensive tasks like video editing than previous iPad Air models.

Apple has also increased the RAM of the last generation model from 8GB to 12GB. Given the sharp rise in RAM prices in recent months, it’s little surprise that Apple is sticking to the same prices for the iPad Air. The 11-inch M4 iPad Air starts at $599 while the 13-inch version starts at $799, each with 128GB of storage. There is a $50 rebate for those purchasing it for educational use.

Apple claims the M4 offers 2.3x faster performance and “4x faster 3D Pro rendering with ray tracing performance” compared to the M1 iPad Air. Of course, the new iPad Air runs iPadOS 26.

Apple gave other internal upgrades to the iPad Air by including its N1 and C1X connectivity chips. In this case, this is the first iPad Air with Wi-Fi 7 support. As you might expect, 5G cellular connectivity is also available.

The design of the M4 iPad Air appears to have not changed, as it appears to have the same LCD display that Apple used in the previous two iterations of the tablet. The company also sticks to the same rear-facing camera and dual-speaker setup.

Pre-orders for the M4 iPad Air are now open. The tablet will arrive at retailers in 35 countries and territories on March 11. It will be available in blue, purple, starlight and space gray colors.

Apple MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and Max

Apple’s most powerful laptop series finally gets the chip upgrade we’ve been expecting for a long time. With the announcement of the M5 Pro and M5 Max, the company is introducing versions of the MacBook Pro with those chipsets. However, prices keep increasing along with upgrades.

The new 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M5 Pro chipset (with 15 CPU cores and 16 GPU cores), 24GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage starts at $2,199. That’s a $200 increase over the base M4 Pro-powered system from late 2024, though Apple has doubled the base storage, which is a welcome touch. If you prefer, you can have a 14-inch MBP with the more powerful M5 Pro (with up to 18 CPU cores and 20 GPU cores) or M5 Max (with 18 CPU cores and 32 or 40 GPU cores). You can also double the RAM to 48GB.

The 16-inch MacBook Pro features the M5 Pro chipset with 18 CPU cores and 20 GPU cores as standard. Of course, you can replace it with the M5 Max if you want. Pricing for the 16-inch model starts at $2,699, which is $200 more than the base M4-powered system. It also starts with 24GB RAM and 1TB storage. Regarding its price, Apple says that both the memory and SSD are faster than the previous model.

Apple has not changed the Liquid Retina XDR display and 12MP center stage front-facing camera for these models. However, the company has put its N1 chip to power Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 connectivity.

Pre-orders are now open, with general availability coming on March 11th.

Apple said the M5 Pro and M5 Max are built using a new “fusion architecture” that “combines two dies into one system on a chip (SoC).” As always, the goal is to provide more power and efficiency. We’ll find out for ourselves if Apple’s performance claims are true when we’re able to test the chips.

Meanwhile, the price of the base 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M5 chipset also increased by $100 to $1,699. To ease the pain, Apple also doubled the base storage for that model to 1TB. Considering that Apple usually charges a premium for expanding storage, this isn’t a terrible compromise.

M5 MacBook Air

A year after Apple upgraded the MacBook Air with an M4 chipset, the company made the same move by swapping in an M5 chip. The company has increased the base storage from 256GB to 512GB with an SSD, which it claims can deliver “2x faster read/write performance than the previous generation.”

While the MBA still has 16GB or so of RAM as standard, Apple has upgraded the memory to 153GB/s of bandwidth — a 28 percent improvement over what the company said the M4 MBA offered. Meanwhile, Apple has installed the N1 chip to provide Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 connectivity.

Alas, with those upgrades also come a compromise. Apple has raised the starting price of the latest MacBook Air to $1,099 after dropping it to $999 for the M4 model. This is for the 13-inch variant. The 15-inch M5 MacBook Air starts at $1,299.

The latest MacBook Air is available in Sky Blue, Midnight, Starlight and Silver colors. You can pre-order now. It will be available in stores in 33 countries and territories on March 11.

macbook neo

Apple further expanded its laptop lineup on Wednesday with the announcement of the MacBook Neo. It’s a new entry-level model that starts at $599 ($499 for educational use), well below the latest $1,099 MacBook Air. This is Apple’s least expensive laptop to date, and a clear attempt by the company to enter a market filled with cheap Windows laptops and Chromebooks.

As expected, the laptop runs on the A18 Pro chip, which first appeared in the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. The chipset features a 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, and 16-core Neural Engine along with 8 GB of integrated memory. That’s enough to power Apple Intelligence features for the MacBook Neo (of course, it’s a macOS Tahoe machine). Apple also said that the MacBook Neo will last up to 16 hours on a single charge.

The MacBook Neo has a 13-inch Liquid Retina display (with 500 nits of brightness and support for 1 billion colors), one USB-C3 port, one USB-C2 port, and a headphone jack, but no MagSafe connector. It has a 1080p front-facing FaceTime HD camera, dual mics, and side-firing speakers that support Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos.

The system features a Magic Keyboard with a multi-touch trackpad. However, if you want the TouchID sensor, you’ll have to pay $100 more for it. Spending the extra cash will also double the storage from 256GB to 512GB.

Apple claimed the MacBook Neo is up to 50 percent faster on everyday tasks than “best-selling PCs with the latest shipping Intel Core Ultra 5” with 8GB or more of RAM and a 256GB SSD. The company also argued that its new laptop is three times faster than that Windows system “when running AI workloads on the device such as applying advanced effects to photos.”

The MacBook Neo is available in four colors: Silver, Blush (light pink), Citrus (light yellow) and Indigo. It was previously reported that Apple will be offering the budget-friendly laptop in some vibrant iMac-esque colors. Additionally, Apple says the laptop is “built with a durable recycled aluminum casing that helps it reach 60 percent recycled content by weight,” which is said to be the most in any Apple device.

Like the rest of the new devices, pre-orders are open now and the MacBook Neo will be available in stores in 30 countries and territories on March 11.

We’ve already had the chance to go hands-on with the MacBook Neo. Engadget senior editor Devindra Hardawar’s first impressions of the laptop were generally positive, but he believed the keyboard and touchpad were not as robust as Apple’s higher-end systems.

Studio Display and Studio Display XDR

I don’t think many people had studio displays on their bingo card of Apple announcements for this week, but here they are. Studio Display XDR is completely new.

It is a 27-inch monitor with a 5K Retina XDR screen. It features a mini-LED display with over 2,000 dimming zones and a peak HDR brightness of 2,000 nits as well as a wide color gamut. The Studio Display

The monitor also has a 12MP center stage camera with support for Desk View, a feature that – oddly enough – lets you show both your face and what’s on your desk. Thunderbolt 5 connectivity allows you to connect more displays by daisy chaining them. The Studio Display XDR is also a Thunderbolt hub that supports up to 140W of charging power. Thus, you will be able to fast charge the 16-inch MacBook Pro using the included Thunderbolt 5 Pro cable.

The Studio Display XDR starts at $3,299. A version with nano-textured glass, which is said to further reduce reflectivity, costs $3,599.

Meanwhile, the refreshed Studio Display features an upgraded 12MP center stage camera with desk view. There is also a “Studio-quality” three-microphone array and six-speaker sound system with spatial audio. The latest model has Thunderbolt 5 support with the option of a daisy-chain display. The Studio Display can also offer 96W charging.

The base monitor is $1,599. It still has a 27-inch 5K Retina display with 600 nits brightness and P3 wide color. It comes with standard glass or, for an extra $300, nano-textured glass. The Studio Display has a tilt-adjustable stand as standard. If you prefer to be height adjustable, you’ll have to spend an additional $400.

Again, pre-orders for the display are now open ahead of wider availability on March 11.