Apple has sent out invitations for its first event of 2026. Taking place on March 4 in select New York City, London, and Shanghai locations. Given that Apple has historically announced Macbook Airs (2024) and Mac and iPad refreshes (2025) in time for Spring, speculation is running high that we might see those long rumoured 12.9-inch MacBooks (powered by A18 processors).
The return of the MacBook
The invitation, which was sent to chosen Apple bloggers, shows the Apple logo rendered in various colours in liquid glass. High chance those colors, including blue, yellow, and green could be what the sub US$800 notebooks could be coming in.
If this is the successor to the much beloved, but underpowered 2015 MacBook, it could cover much needed gaps in Apple's educational market, as well as entice PC users seeking a powerful and portable alternative to now unsupported Windows 10 notebooks.
Rendered image by @azahedonist shared on Threads
A more affordable and no-frills MacBook could disrupt Chromebooks, many of which are heavy and not as robust as an aluminum unibody MacBook. A push towards education could also open an avenue for Apple Services, specifically iCloud storage and online services like Apple Creator Studio.
The 2015 MacBook was my favorite portable of all time. Sure it only had one USB-C port for power and I/O but it was the best device to travel with and take to conferences. It's sleekness and portability beats even an iPad Pro with a Magic Keyboard. New colors echoing recent iMacs would make these fun consumer notebooks recalling the iBooks of old.
Apple's A18 processor shares a lot of similarities to the M2 and M3 class of Apple Siicon and should suffice for most non gaming or intense content creation tasks.
M5 MacBook Pros and Macs
The event might be all consumer, meaning iPads, iMacs, MacBooks. We could also see those M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pros even if availability is pushed later in the Spring (with RAM prices as they are right now, price increases for the pro devices shipping with over 16GB could get up there in price).
All in all, a March event sets the tone for the rest of the year with Apple doubling-down on new hardware and possible Apple Intelligence Siri updates, not holding my breath for that until June. But at least there will be notable hardware refreshes across the board