MacBook Neo could get an upgrade next year — I just hope Apple's RAM supply chain stays strong until then

• New rumors suggest Apple's MacBook Neo will receive an upgrade in 2027
• Reliable tech columnist Tim Culpan expects the Neo to use the iPhone 17 Pro's A19 Pro chip with 12GB of RAM
• The Neo is also expected to stick with a five-core GPU instead of the A19 Pro's six-core GPU

The MacBook Neo is critically acclaimed as one of the best budget laptops despite the downside of 8GB of unified memory. That might change next year, but the ongoing RAM crisis could make things challenging for Apple.

As reported by MacRumors, Apple's MacBook Neo could be set to receive two upgrades, with an A19 Pro chip and a push up to 12GB of RAM in 2027, according to tech columnist Tim Culpan in the Culpium newsletter. This would see the MacBook Neo utilize the same chip used in iPhone 17 Pro models: the A19 Pro.

The current MacBook Neo became available this March, with both 256GB and 512GB storage models limited to 8GB of memory, so the purported upgrade to 12GB is expected to give the Neo an extra boost for productivity and multitasking.

Culpan also anticipates the rumored upgraded Neo will use a 'binned' (slightly less powerful, but stable) version of the A19 Pro, but a five-core GPU instead of the chip's six-core GPU. That means there won't be much of an upgrade in GPU power, since the A18 Pro already has a five-core GPU.

However, there's an elephant in the room, which is the ongoing RAM crisis impacting several PC hardware manufacturers, and ultimately leading to higher prices for consumers. The likes of Dell, Framework, and several other laptop companies have been hit with supply chain problems in the past four months.

Fortunately, it's widely reported that Apple had its RAM supply chain locked down before the RAM crisis hit, and frankly, Apple's RAM usage on hardware is used efficiently to deliver good performance without needing more memory, unlike other Windows 11-based systems.

We can only hope that by the time the rumored MacBook Neo upgrade arrives, the RAM crisis and its impact will have simmered down, or Apple's supply chain stays strong throughout 2026, leading into next year.

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