Weekly deals: iPhone 17e, new iPad Air, MacBook Neo, plus new MacBook Air and Pro

This may be no coincidence – Apple chose the week of MWC to drop several major announcements. And since most of the developments from MWC are unlikely to come to the US, let’s see what Apple has to offer.

The new iPhone 17e fixes many of the major gripes of the 16e – it now has proper MagSafe support, you get good base storage (256GB), the improved Ceramic Shield 2 has an anti-reflective coating and the chipset has been bumped up to an Apple A19. That’s a lot of power for $600! OK, the 6.1″ 60Hz display with the chunky notch isn’t ideal and neither is the 48MP camera with the small sensor. But it’s the cheapest new iPhone available and you can be sure Samsung and Google are paying attention.

Speaking of, we’re seeing leaks about the Galaxy A57, but that’s still a ways off. However, the Google Pixel 10a is here and comes with a $100 gift card. It has a larger display (6.3″ vs. 6.1″) with a 120Hz refresh rate, but only the regular Gorilla Glass 7i for protection. And let’s not waste time comparing the Tensor G4 with the A19 chip.

More importantly, the Pixel 10a matches the 17e with a smaller 48MP sensor in its main camera and then it adds a 13MP ultra-wide. Both phones have Satellite SOS. But again, Apple increased the base storage to 256GB, so you should pay attention to the $600 10a — only the $100 gift card gives the Pixel the edge in pricing.

Also this week, Apple upgraded the iPad Air from the M3 to the M4 chipset. This puts the Air models a generation behind the Pro models. Notably, it has also increased the RAM to 12GB, which is 50% more than the older model. The only other improvements worth mentioning are Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0 support (up from Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3). The 11” and 13” displays are still 60Hz IPS LCD.

iPad Pros moved to the latest Apple M5 chip last year. They have 12GB of RAM on 256GB and 512GB versions and 16GB on 1TB and 2TB models. They also feature tandem OLED displays running at 120Hz. Both the Air and Pro tablets can output to an external monitor over USB-C and support Stage Manager for multitasking.

Apple also shook up the MacBook market – the new MacBook Neo runs on the iPhone 16 Pro chipset and starts at just $600. With the education discount this drops to $500. It is also a threat to Chromebooks, Surface Laptops, and even iPads.

You get a 13″ IPS LCD (3:2, 60Hz), two USB-C ports (one USB 3, one USB 2), a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a small 36.5Wh battery. The A18 Pro is a smartphone chip, so it’s super efficient by laptop standards. The laptop promises 16 hours of video playback or 11 hours of web browsing. At 2.7 pounds, it’s heavier than a 13″ MacBook. Side, but it’s not too heavy. And note that the 512GB model is the only model to offer Touch ID. 8GB of RAM is the biggest limitation here, but it was possible with the smartphone chip.

Now go and compare all this to the $350 iPad (2025) — $450, actually, if you want 256GB of storage. The iPad has a smaller screen (11″), less RAM (6GB), one USB-C port, and an older chipset (A16 non-Pro) with the same 28.93Wh battery. There’s no keyboard included, but you can buy a Magic Keyboard Folio for the low price of $250. Unless you just want a Facebook and YouTube machine, the MacBook Neo is a lot more useful than the vanilla iPad. Don’t forget that Macs can run iPadOS apps.

Apple also refreshed its MacBook Air and Pro lineup. The Air has got the latest M5 chip and now features 256GB of base storage. It also supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0, similar to its iPad counterpart. MacBook Air is available in 13.6” and 15.3” sizes.

Apple MacBook Air 15.3″

Coming March 11th
apple m5

See also

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16/512GB – $1,300 on Amazon US

The pros have to be a generation ahead of Ayers, that’s the rule. Previously, Apple had M5-powered Pros and M4-powered Airs. The new M5 Air challenges the older Pro, so there are new Pros with Apple M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. Note that the 14.2” model offers a choice of all three chips, while the 16.2” model only has the M5 Pro and Max options.

Before we wrap up we’ve looked at the Galaxy S26 series, let’s take another look at them. They’re still on pre-order – the official launch is scheduled for March 11 – so you can still get a free storage upgrade from the 256GB model to the 512GB model.