Apple‘s first major hardware drop of the year is officially here. While the mobile devices have their own share of updates (see iPhone 17e, M4 iPad Air PH price starts at ₱42,990: Apple’s value offensive), the real shakeup is happening to the Mac. The company just unleashed a top-to-bottom refresh of its laptop lineup, introducing the M5 MacBook Air, the powerhouse M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pros, and a completely new entry-level wildcard: the MacBook Neo.

It is a significant realignment of Apple’s computing strategy. Here is everything you need to know about the 2026 laptop roster, the technical compromises involved, and official pricing.

The $599/₱39,990 Apple MacBook Neo: A colorful, calculated compromise

The biggest news is the MacBook Neo. Priced starting at $599 globally and ₱39,990 in the Philippines, it is the most affordable laptop Apple has ever made. It’s a direct play for the education market and budget-conscious buyers who would normally default to a Chromebook or an entry-level Windows machine.

To hit that aggressive price point, the Cupertino giant made a fascinating hardware pivot: The Neo does not use an M-series chip. Instead, it is powered by the A18 Pro, the exact same silicon found in the iPhone 16 Pro. On paper, this 6-core CPU and 5-core GPU setup paired with 8GB of fixed memory is more than enough for web browsing, document editing, and casual photo tweaks. It also features a fanless aluminum chassis, a 13-inch Liquid Retina display, and 16 hours of battery life.

Available in silver, blush, citrus, and indigo, this is the most colorful Mac in years.

Apple MacBook Neo official product video

Just take note that there are compromises, as expected. The Apple MacBook Neo ditches MagSafe entirely, relying on two USB-C ports for charging and connectivity. Curiously, those ports are asymmetrical: one supports USB 3 speeds, while the other is relegated to USB 2 speeds. Additionally, the base 256GB model lacks Touch ID; you have to step up to the 512GB configuration for biometric login. The display tops out at 500 nits and covers the sRGB color gamut rather than the wider P3 gamut found on pricier Macs, and the webcam is a standard 1080p sensor.

The M5 Apple MacBook Air: Fixing the storage problem

If the Neo is about hitting a price floor, the refreshed MacBook Air is about establishing a highly capable new baseline.

The biggest and most welcome change for the M5 MacBook Air isn’t the chip itself; it’s the storage. Apple has finally dropped the 256GB storage tier for the Air. Every 13-inch and 15-inch M5 model now comes standard with 512GB of storage and 16GB of unified memory. The new SSD also delivers twice the read and write performance of the previous generation.

Official product video of the M5-powered Apple MacBook Air

Under the hood, the M5 chip brings a 10-core CPU and up to a 10-core GPU. Crucially, each GPU core now features a dedicated Neural Accelerator, which Apple claims makes on-device AI tasks up to four times faster than the M4 Air.

The chassis remains exactly the same, available in sky blue, midnight, starlight, and silver. But the internals get a modern connectivity bump with the new Apple-designed N1 chip, bringing Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 to the Air for the first time. The webcam is also upgraded to a 12-megapixel Center Stage camera with Desk View support.

The 13-inch M5 MacBook Air starts at ₱72,990 (Philippines)/$1,099 (United States), while the 15-inch model is priced from ₱86,990/$1,299.

The M5 Pro and M5 Max Apple MacBook Pro: Going all in on bandwidth

Apple is widening the gap between its consumer and professional machines. The 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros retain their familiar, chunky designs but receive massive silicon upgrades via the M5 Pro and M5 Max processors.

These machines are built for heavy sustained workloads, pushing up to an 18-core CPU and a 40-core GPU. Like the MacBook Air, the big shift here is the boosted baseline. The M5 Pro models now start with 1TB of storage, while the M5 Max models floor it at a massive 2TB. Memory bandwidth also gets a significant bump, supporting up to 128GB of unified memory on the Max for extreme data crunching and complex local LLM processing.

Official product video of the Apple MacBook Pro with the all-new M5 Pro and M5 Max chips

Apple likewise brought Thunderbolt 5 to the Pro lineup, delivering up to 120Gb/s of bandwidth for high-end video setups. The Liquid Retina XDR displays remain the best in the business, and buyers can now opt for the glare-reducing nano-texture glass previously reserved for the Studio Display and iPad Pro. Battery life stretches up to a stated 24 hours on the 16-inch model.

The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Pro costs from ₱149,990/$2,199 while the base M5 Max unit is priced from ₱239,990/$3,599.

Availability in the Philippines

Preorders are currently live in the U.S. and 29 other select regions, with physical retail availability slated for Wednesday, March 11.

For the Philippines, the official pricing is already up on the local Apple Store front, but all models are currently listed as “check back for availability.” Based on typical Apple launch cycles, local retail release usually follows a few weeks after the initial global wave.

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