Headline & intro
Apple’s next wave of hardware may look like routine spec bumps—an iPhone 17e, faster MacBook Pros, slightly refreshed iPads—but strategically it’s anything but boring. By pushing its latest chips into the cheapest iPhone and iPad tiers and readying another round of M‑series MacBook Pros, Apple is racing to make the entire entry-level stack “Apple Intelligence–ready.” In other words, this is an AI land grab disguised as maintenance.
In this piece, we’ll unpack what’s reportedly coming, why it matters for Apple’s midrange strategy, how it fits into the broader AI PC and tablet race, and what European users in particular should read between the lines.
The news in brief
According to reporting relayed by Ars Technica from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is preparing several near-term hardware updates.
On the phone side, Apple is said to be working on an iPhone 17e: a refresh of the budget line that would gain an A19 chip similar to the standard iPhone 17, plus MagSafe charging, while keeping a single rear camera and notched display. The price is reportedly set to remain at $599, the same as the current iPhone 16e.
For tablets, Apple is apparently readying a new base iPad that jumps from the A16 to an A18 chip—bringing Apple Intelligence support to the €349/$349 iPad tier—along with an updated iPad Air moving from M3 to M4. An iPad mini with an OLED screen is expected later.
On Macs, current 14‑ and 16‑inch MacBook Pros with M4 Pro/Max are expected to be replaced by M5 Pro/Max models, with designs largely unchanged. Gurman also points to work on refreshed Mac mini and Mac Studio desktops, a new Studio Display, and a future low-cost MacBook well below Apple’s traditional $999 starting price.
Why this matters
This looks like a classic mid-cycle clean‑up, but the pattern is clear: Apple is lowering the price of entry for its AI era while trying not to erode its premium positioning.
iPhone 17e: from occasional SE to yearly ‘e’ anchor
If the report is accurate, Apple is shifting from sporadic SE updates to a more predictable budget family. That has two goals:
- Give price-sensitive buyers a current‑generation chip and modern niceties like MagSafe, without the camera and display upgrades that drive up bill of materials.
- Protect the perceived value of the flagship iPhone 17 and 17 Pro lines by clearly separating camera and display tiers, not just storage.
The downside is complexity. With the 17e potentially sitting next to discounted iPhone 16 and 16 Plus models, you’d have four devices crammed between roughly $600 and $800. For ordinary buyers, the matrix is borderline indecipherable. Apple has historically been good at “good, better, best”; this moves it closer to the confusing PC world it once mocked.
A18 iPad: Apple Intelligence for the masses
Shifting the cheapest iPad to A18 is the more strategically important move. Apple Intelligence currently runs only on relatively recent, higher-end devices. By making the €349/$349 iPad AI‑capable (and almost certainly bumping RAM to 8 GB), Apple ensures that schools, families and small businesses buying the cheapest tablet are pulled into its AI ecosystem within one upgrade cycle.
This will annoy anyone who bought the A16 iPad just months earlier, but from Apple’s perspective it closes an embarrassing gap: its most affordable, most widely deployed tablet was one of the only 2025 devices that couldn’t run its headline AI features.
M5 MacBook Pro: quietly answering the AI PC hype
M5 Pro/Max MacBook Pros, in the same chassis, signal that Apple isn’t ready to redesign the MacBook yet—but it also doesn’t need to. While Windows OEMs are loudly selling “AI PCs” with Copilot+, Apple’s answer is more understated: keep shipping MacBooks where local AI workloads are just another thing the SoC happens to be good at.
For developers, video editors and 3D creators, an M5 Max with stronger neural and GPU performance is the real Copilot competitor, even if Apple never uses that marketing language.
The bigger picture
Zooming out, these updates fit three broader industry trends.
1. AI as a hardware reset
Every major platform vendor is using AI to justify a hardware refresh cycle. Microsoft has its “AI PC” push, Google is turning Pixels and Chromebooks into Gemini vehicles, and Apple has Apple Intelligence. The catch for Apple is that its AI stack needs relatively modern silicon and plenty of RAM. That forces it to accelerate chip upgrades in lower tiers faster than it otherwise might.
In that light, the A18 iPad and A19‑equipped iPhone 17e are less about raw performance and more about eligibility. You’re not buying an A‑series chip; you’re buying into a minimum bar for on‑device AI and a multi‑year support window.
2. Apple’s long history of midrange experiments
We’ve been here before. The iPhone 5c, the original SE, and the 16e all tried to answer the same question: how does Apple grow in mature markets without trashing its premium image? The 5c leaned on colourful plastics, the SE on reusing older shells, the 16e on mixing modern design with fewer “hero” features.
The 17e, if it lands as rumoured, represents a fourth attempt: flagship‑class chip, budget camera/display, stable midrange price. Instead of discounting last year’s flagship and confusing people with too many suffixes (Plus, Pro, Pro Max, SE), Apple may want a consistent, clearly named budget line it can refresh annually.
3. Macs versus the Windows AI PC wave
On the PC side, Intel, AMD and Qualcomm are fighting to own the AI PC narrative, promising NPUs and longer battery life. Apple is in a different position: it already has efficiency and on‑device ML performance. Its challenge is marketing, not engineering.
By iterating Macs to M5 while keeping the same industrial design, Apple is sending two messages:
- To professionals: performance will continue climbing predictably; your current workflows won’t be disrupted by port changes or redesigns.
- To Wall Street: Apple is participating in the AI PC refresh cycle without slashing prices or stuffing the line‑up with confusing SKUs.
It also sets the stage for the next big shift—OLED/touch MacBook Pros, or deeper Mac–Vision Pro integration—once Apple decides the market is ready.
The European / regional angle
For European users, these moves intersect with regulation, pricing and culture in specific ways.
AI features, DMA and the ‘pay now, benefit later’ problem
EU regulators are already scrutinising how Apple bundles services and controls platforms under the Digital Markets Act. Apple Intelligence, with its tight OS integration and reliance on Apple’s cloud, is likely to face extra friction in Europe. If features roll out later—or differently—here than in the US, many Europeans will effectively be paying upfront for AI‑ready hardware while waiting for the software to catch up.
Price pressure and the refurbished habit
European markets are structurally more price-sensitive, and the refurbished and second‑hand Apple market is strong in countries like Germany, France and the Nordics. A $599/€649‑ish iPhone 17e will compete not just with Androids, but with gently used iPhone 15 and 16 models.
Likewise, a potential low‑cost MacBook below the traditional €1,199 starting point could be significant for schools and municipalities that currently default to Windows laptops or Chromebooks due to budget constraints. If Apple can get a credible Mac under, say, €900 including VAT, it starts to look attractive for European education and public sector tenders.
Sustainability and long lifecycles
The EU’s push for longer-lasting, repairable devices means many European users now keep hardware for five or more years. Apple’s move to put high‑end chips into even the cheapest iPad and iPhone tier actually aligns with this: performance headroom today buys longevity tomorrow. The risk is perception—these are visually minor updates, and some buyers may postpone upgrading until there’s a clear design or camera leap.
Looking ahead
Assuming these reports are broadly accurate, what should we expect next?
1. Line‑up simplification—eventually
Apple won’t tolerate long-term confusion in the €600–€800 iPhone band. Over the next 12–18 months, expect some pruning: perhaps the standard iPhone 16 disappears from the official store, living on only through carriers and retail partners, or the “e” line becomes the default midrange in certain markets while older flagships are pushed into emerging regions.
2. Apple Intelligence becomes the real selling point
The hardware itself is evolutionary; the software will need to do the heavy lifting. WWDC 2026 and 2027 will be crucial. If Apple can turn Apple Intelligence and a “more capable Siri” into everyday, reliable tools—especially offline—it justifies this rapid spread of AI‑capable silicon into cheaper devices.
If it cannot, early A18‑iPad and 17e buyers may feel they paid for theoretical capabilities that never mattered in practice.
3. Low‑cost MacBook as the wild card
The rumoured cheap MacBook could arrive late 2026 or early 2027. Its positioning is delicate: too good, and it cannibalises the MacBook Air; too weak, and it dies like the 12‑inch MacBook. Watch whether Apple reuses previous‑gen M‑series chips, lowers display quality, or leans heavily on education channels.
4. Supply chain and AI RAM hunger
As Ars Technica notes, AI workloads are already driving RAM and storage shortages. If Apple standardises 8 GB or more even at the low end, we may see tight availability or higher base prices in some regions. Component constraints could be the invisible hand that limits just how generous Apple can be with entry-level specs.
The bottom line
Under the surface of these “minor” updates is a clear strategy: make even Apple’s cheapest devices powerful enough to handle on‑device AI, defend the lucrative midrange from Android and Windows, and quietly ride the AI PC wave without overhauling the Mac.
Whether that works will depend less on the A18 or M5 and more on whether Apple Intelligence becomes genuinely useful in daily life. The real question for readers is simple: would you upgrade for AI features alone, or are you waiting for a more visible leap—like cameras, battery and design—to move the needle?
