iCave - David Eden-Sangwell
Yesterday, TheValNerd, one of our Notification squad members asked a question, using the hashtag #iCaveAnswers, and I said I’d answer it in detail tomorrow, not realising it was Friday when I said it. So I guess we’re doing a Saturday video. Sorry guys.
“In a previous video, you talked about how using Apple Silicon in Macs and Mack books, you also said that their price will drop.
You have an example with the Mac Mini, from $799 to $499
Is it actually that big of a price drop, including with other Apple silicon products?”
This question, started quite the discussion in the comments. I just want to say how much I love the community we’ve built on this channel. Everyone (pretty much) stays respectful in the comments and we have some great discussions and I really wanted to say thank you to everyone for that.
So the premise for this is that when the first rumours of Apple Silicon came out was that the rumours talked of a $799 starting price for a MacBook, based on Apple’s 12” form factor. I still think this is a decent possibility. Even Linus Sebastian of that other tech channel, it’s not a big one, mentioned what a deal that would be.
There are a few reasons that I think it would be a really good idea for Apple to offer Macs at lower prices and I do think with Apple Silicon it’s really feasible for the first time in recent memory. Just to be clear this is a video based on mainly speculation and extrapolation from what has gone before, not leaks and for the most part, other rumours.
Talking about the Mac mini mentioned above, I really do think Apple could make a very affordable system using this, bringing it back to the entry level point that it once was of $500 or possibly less, maybe under the name of Mac mini SE.
One of our most knowledgeable followers, Clyde (sorry I’m not going to ruin your surname again) pointed out that the price hike in 2018 where the base cost increased from $499 to 799 was down to a number of factors:
Intel pricing
Paying Intel for ThunderBolt 3 port licensing
SSD Pricing
T2 Chip
Space Grey colouring
All great points, but also I think mainly things that could be addressed by Apple Silicon and the SE scheme if they used it.
Intel pricing is of course something that is eliminated quickly. Using Apple Silicon, and especially at the scale of iPhone & iPad production means that the cost per chip will be far lower than buying from Intel with their profit margin added. The current A14 is comparable with last year’s MacBook 13” i7 version, and would have far less issues with cooling as it works just fine in a little iPhone.
Apple could even potentially use chips that didn’t make the cut for iPhone or iPad Air (worse binned chips) in these especially in power or heat management cases which would also help lower costs.
Thunderbolt 3 as of 4th March 2019 is royalty free and being rolled into the USB4 standard, with 40Gbit/s throughput and backwards compatibility.
SSD pricing has reduced drastically in recent years, but Apple could offer a low starting point like 128gb for a Mac mini SE as external SSDs over USB4 should offer comparable speeds to internal storage.
The T2 Chip only has to be added to Macs because they use intel – its based on the Apple A10 chip and provides a Secure Enclave for encrypted keys, camera and audio control, on the fly encryption and decryption of SSD and image processing for the facetime cameras of iMacs and MacBooks, plus enabling Hey Siri. All of which the A14 could do quite capably without a sidekick T2 chip today.
So I go back to the idea, that if an iPad Air with A14 can be sold for $599, taking away the screen (iFixit replacements run $425 for iPad Pro 11 which is similar for context) with its touch layer and battery, that the Mac mini SE (if they decided to call it that) should easily be able to hit that $499 price
Here’s why they should. Yesterday, Apple One launched. Apple’s services revenue grew ahead of expectations in the last quarter, and right now they make a gross margin of about 37% on hardware, but a massive 67% on services (I mean, in tech 37% on hardware is insane too). So more Macs in people’s homes, especially with the integration that Apple Silicon will bring for software, means more people in the ecosystem to stay. If people love their iPhones, they’ll probably love a Mac.
Also, Apple needs quick wins on their Apple Silicon install base to show developers that its worth updating their Intel apps to run natively and to attract more developers to the platform, and Mac mini SE would be a super easy way for that to happen. I know I’d be throwing down cash on day one.
And they should definitely build MagSafe into the top, because charging a Magic Mouse through a lightning port in the bottom sucks. Magsafe on top to charge your phone, AirPods, Mouse, maybe even keyboard, would be just one of those nice things that Apple does better.
But what do you think? Would you pick one up, or what Apple Silicon Mac would separate you from your cash? .