Walk into any Apple Store today, or fire up apple.com, and you’re going to be hit with a wall of brand-new hardware. MacBook Neo. iPhone 17e. MacBook Air with M5. MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and M5 Max. iPad Air with M4. A refreshed Studio Display. And a brand-new Studio Display XDR. All of it, available right now, all at once. It’s one of the most significant single-day hardware launches Apple has pulled off in years, and there’s genuinely something for every type of user in this batch — from first-time Mac buyers to seasoned creative professionals who want the absolute best display money can buy.
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Let’s break it all down, product by product.
MacBook Neo: Apple’s most affordable Mac, ever
Let’s start with the one that’s getting the most buzz — and rightfully so. The MacBook Neo is Apple’s answer to the question nobody expected them to answer: can Apple make a truly budget-friendly Mac without gutting the experience?
Starting at just $599 in the US, MacBook Neo is the cheapest laptop Apple has ever sold. For students and first-time Mac buyers, education pricing brings that down even further — to $499. That’s genuinely in the territory of mid-range Windows laptops, except this is running Apple silicon.
The chip inside is the A18 Pro — yes, the same processor that debuted in the iPhone 16 Pro lineup last year. Apple claims it’s up to 50% faster at regular tasks compared to a Windows laptop running an Intel Core Ultra 5, and delivers up to three times faster performance for certain AI tasks. In a laptop that costs $599, that’s remarkable.
The design is a 13-inch Liquid Retina display housed in a slim aluminum enclosure. It’s fanless, meaning completely silent operation — no fan noise ever. Battery life is rated at up to 16 hours, which should get most people through a full workday and then some. There’s a 1080p FaceTime HD camera on board, dual mics, and Touch ID built right into the Magic Keyboard.
Color-wise, Apple is having a bit of fun here — you get four options: silver, blush, citrus, and indigo. Citrus and blush are notably playful picks that set Neo apart visually from the more staid MacBook Air lineup.
The catch? The MacBook Neo maxes out at 8GB of unified memory and you can’t configure it with more RAM — the model comes in 256GB or 512GB storage variants, and that’s your lot. For heavy multitaskers or pro users, this isn’t the machine. But for browsing, streaming, document work, photo editing, and everyday AI tasks through Apple Intelligence. It’s more than enough — and at this price, it’s a remarkable value proposition.
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iPhone 17e: the affordable iPhone that doesn’t feel like a compromise
The iPhone 17e has been one of the most anticipated releases of early 2026, and it’s finally here. Starting at $599 — the same price as before — but now with 256GB of base storage (double the entry storage of the previous generation), Apple is making a strong case that “affordable iPhone” doesn’t have to mean “stripped-down iPhone.”
Under the hood, the 17e runs on the A19 chip — Apple’s latest — with a 30% boost in graphics performance compared to the iPhone 16e. It supports 5G, Wi-Fi 7, and MagSafe wireless charging, which was a huge miss on the old SE lineup. The camera system is a 48MP Fusion camera capable of stunning photos, backed by Smart HDR 5, Night mode, Photonic Engine, and the whole suite of Apple computational photography tools.
The display is a 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED panel at 460ppi with True Tone and P3 wide color. Protecting it is Ceramic Shield 2, which Apple says offers 3x better scratch resistance than the previous generation — and there’s meaningfully reduced glare too.
Color options include black, white, and a new soft pink — all with a premium matte finish that frankly looks much more refined than the glossy finishes of iPhones past. Battery life is rated at up to 26 hours of video playback, and the phone supports fast charging: up to 50% in 30 minutes with a compatible 20W adapter.
For anyone who’s been sitting on an older iPhone SE or an iPhone 11 or 12, this is a genuinely compelling upgrade path. With Apple Trade In, you can get up to $195 credit for an iPhone 13, or up to $599 credit via carrier deals — meaning in some scenarios, the iPhone 17e could cost you very little out of pocket.
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MacBook Air with M5: the world’s most popular laptop gets seriously faster
The MacBook Air has been Apple’s bestselling Mac for years running, and the M5 upgrade makes a strong argument that it’s also one of the best laptops in the world, period.
The new MacBook Air — available in 13-inch and 15-inch configurations — comes standard with 512GB of storage (double the starting spec of the previous generation), which alone justifies the upgrade for many. The SSD is also 2x faster in read/write speeds.
Performance is the real headline here. The M5 chip features a 10-core CPU with the world’s fastest CPU core, and an up-to-10-core GPU. For AI workloads specifically, MacBook Air with M5 delivers up to 4x faster AI task performance compared to M4, and up to 9.5x faster than the M1 generation. Apple’s N1 wireless chip also debuts on MacBook Air, bringing Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 connectivity.
Unified memory bandwidth has jumped to 153GB/s, a 28% improvement over M4, which translates into noticeably smoother multitasking and faster app launches. For real-world creative work, Apple says you’re looking at up to 1.9x faster AI video enhancement in Topaz Video, 1.5x faster 3D rendering in Blender, and 1.5x faster image processing in Affinity Photo — all compared to M4.
Colors this time around: sky blue, midnight, starlight, and silver. The sky blue is a particularly striking new addition. Battery life remains up to 18 hours, and the thin, fanless design carries over unchanged. For most people — students, professionals, creators — this is the Mac to buy.
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MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and M5 Max: a beast for professionals
If MacBook Air is “great for almost everyone,” MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and M5 Max is “best for those who push their machines to the absolute limit.”
The new MacBook Pro is available in 14-inch and 16-inch sizes, in space black and silver. Starting storage has been bumped to 1TB for M5 Pro models and 2TB for M5 Max — a meaningful boost for creative professionals working with large files.
The headline spec is performance: Apple says the M5 Pro and M5 Max deliver up to 4x AI performance compared to the previous generation, and up to 8x AI performance compared to M1 models. The M5 Max features a next-generation GPU with a Neural Accelerator in each core, and higher unified memory bandwidth across the board.
CNET‘s reviewed configurations give you a sense of the scale: a 16-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Max, 128GB of unified memory, and 4TB of storage comes in at $6,149 — but you’re getting effectively workstation-class performance in a sleek laptop form factor.
Like the MacBook Air, the MacBook Pro also gains Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 via Apple’s N1 chip. Battery life on the 16-inch is rated at up to 24 hours — basically unmatched in the pro laptop space.
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iPad Air with M4: more power, same price
The iPad Air gets its biggest chip jump in recent memory, moving from M3 to the M4 — the same chip that debuted in iPad Pro last year. The jump brings an 8-core CPU, a 9-core GPU with hardware-accelerated ray tracing, a 16-core Neural Engine, and — notably — 12GB of unified memory, up from 8GB previously (a 50% increase).
All of that makes iPad Air substantially more capable as an AI device and for heavier workflows like video editing, gaming, and creative work. Apple says the new Air is up to 30% faster than its M3 predecessor.
The iPad Air continues in 11-inch and 13-inch sizes, in four finishes: blue, purple, starlight, and space gray. It runs iPadOS 26 and supports all the accessories you’d expect — Apple Pencil Pro, Magic Keyboard, and the full suite of connectivity options.
Pricing in the US: the 11‑inch iPad Air starts at $599 for Wi-Fi and $749 for Wi-Fi + Cellular, while the 13‑inch starts at $799 and $949, respectively. And Apple has kept the starting price identical to the previous generation — so you’re getting a meaningful upgrade at no extra cost.
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Studio Display and Studio Display XDR: Apple’s new pro monitor family
Perhaps the most under-discussed launch of the day is Apple’s refreshed display lineup — and it deserves far more attention than it’s getting.
The updated Studio Display starts at $1,599 — same price as the original — but comes with notable upgrades: a 12MP Center Stage camera with Desk View, improved speakers with deeper bass, and a move to Thunderbolt 5 connectivity with up to 96W of charging power.
The real showstopper, though, is the all-new Studio Display XDR — starting at $3,299. This is Apple’s answer to the question of what a genuinely world-class pro display looks like in 2026. The XDR features a 27-inch 5K Retina display with a mini-LED backlight, 2,304 local dimming zones, peak HDR brightness of 2,000 nits, a 120Hz refresh rate with Adaptive Sync, and support for both P3 wide color and Adobe RGB. For medical imaging workflows, there are even DICOM presets built in.
Both displays share a studio-quality three-microphone array, an immersive six-speaker sound system with Spatial Audio, and the same 12MP Center Stage camera. Optional nano-texture glass is available on both for an additional $300, and height-adjustable stands are available as optional add-ons.
For creative professionals — photographers, video editors, color graders, 3D artists — the Studio Display XDR is arguably the most compelling monitor Apple has ever made, and it undercuts the older Pro Display XDR on price while matching or exceeding it in key specs.
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How to buy and what deals are available
All of these products are available today at Apple Store locations, on apple.com, and in the Apple Store app.
A few things worth knowing before you head to checkout:
- Apple Trade In: Trade in an iPhone 11 and get up to $100 credit, or trade in an iPhone 13 for up to $195 credit toward an iPhone 17e.
- Carrier deals: Trade in an iPhone 13 with a carrier offer and you could get up to $599 in credit — effectively getting an iPhone 17e for almost nothing.
- Apple Card: Pay with Apple Card and you’ll get 3% Daily Cash back, plus the option for 0% APR monthly installments.
- Configure to Order: MacBook Neo, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and the new Studio Display models are all available for custom configuration — chip, memory, storage, and even display height adjustment.
The bigger picture
What’s striking about today’s launch isn’t any single product — it’s the range. From the $599 MacBook Neo aimed squarely at Windows switchers and students, to the $6,000+ MacBook Pro M5 Max for power users who need every bit of performance they can get, Apple is making a play for every price point simultaneously.
The MacBook Neo in particular feels like a strategic move that could reshape how people think about the Mac — and perhaps more importantly, how students and first-time buyers choose between Mac and Windows. At $599, it’s no longer a luxury; it’s a competitive option in a crowded market.
Meanwhile, the iPhone 17e doubling the base storage without raising the price, and iPad Air getting the M4 upgrade at the same cost as before, signals Apple is doubling down on value for its mid-range lineup — perhaps in response to increasingly capable Android and Windows competitors.
For everyone who’s been waiting for the right moment to upgrade: today’s the day.
Disclaimer: Prices and promotions mentioned in this article are accurate at the time of writing and are subject to change based on the retailers’ discretion. Please verify the current offer before making a purchase.
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