Apple's 'entry-level' MacBook may land in September with a not-so-budget price

Anonymous sources speaking to DigiTimes claim that Apple will launch its long-rumored, entry-level MacBook 2018 model this September alongside new iPhones and iPads as well as details regarding the AirPower wireless charger release.

The MacBook will be supposedly be priced at $1,200 in the US when it releases later this year industry sources have told DigiTimes. Last we heard from a previous report, the MacBooks release date will fall sometime in October. Judging from previous releases, this should amount to around £1,149 and about AU$1,799.

Rumors and reports up until this point have forecasted Apple releasing a successor to the original MacBook or MacBook Air that would emulate either product’s price point. As you know, old entry-level MacBooks and MacBook Air models costed $999 and $799, respectively.

Either a four-digit price is something Apple actually considers affordable to the wider public, or this laptop isn’t designed to be entry-level at all. Unfortunately, we know nothing more about this laptop’s capabilities that would hint toward either circumstance – aside from the fact that will come running Intel’s latest Kaby Lake processors.

The processor piece is an interesting point in itself, as DigiTimes’s sources claim that Apple had originally planned to ship this model with Intel’s endlessly-delayed 10-nanometer Canon Lake chips. With those now set to start shipping in mid-2019, Apple opted to launch with the 14nm Kaby Lake chips rather than delay the refresh by another year.

DigiTimes also quickly mentions an affordable 13-inch MacBook was planned for a late 2017 release, but has been delayed due to Intel pushing back its 10nm processor release.

With this new information, we frankly can’t wait to see where these fit in Apple’s laptop lineup, especially this slightly cheaper 12-inch refresh.

New iPads are incoming, too

In the same report, DigiTimes’s sources say that Apple will also debut two new iPad Pro tablets at its September, iPhone-led event. One model will be a straight update to the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, while the other will be an 11-inch tablet to replace the 10.5-inch iPad Pro.

Both of these new pro-grade iPads will reportedly, at last, use USB-C charging ports rather than Lightning, paired with 18W power adapters for faster charging. We’ve seen Apple widely adopt USB-C in its laptops and desktops, and with iPad Pro line being more tangential to those devices, we could totally see USB-C being used here.

Finally, Apple’s September iPhone event could be wherein we get the launch schedule for the AirPower wireless charging pad. According to DigiTimes’s sources, it will debut at around $193 (about £145, AU$258).

What is normally an iPhone-focused event is looking to become an Apple product smorgasbord.