Apple’s older MacBook Air with the M1 chip is now sold out on Walmart’s US website, amid rumors of a new, cheaper MacBook being released soon.
Walmart first started selling the MacBook Air with the M1 chip for $699 in March 2024. The price later dropped to $649, then to $599, and briefly to $549 during last year’s Black Friday. However, we’ve just noticed that it’s been out of stock for a while now, and there’s no indication that it will ever be returned.
Apple first released the MacBook Air with the M1 chip in November 2020 as one of the first Macs with an Apple silicon chip instead of an Intel processor. The configuration, which Walmart sells for just $549, included 256GB of storage and 8GB of RAM. These were new units in the box, not refurbished or open models. Walmart’s website continues to offer refurbished units from “trusted sellers” for as little as $449.
Apple discontinued the MacBook Air with the M1 chip in 2024 after launching models with the M3 chip, and has since updated the MacBook Air with the M4 chip. Before production was discontinued, the M1 chip model sold for a starting price of $999 brand new, but Amazon sometimes offered it for sale for $749 to $899.
A laptop that will be sold out at Walmart could help.
Apple plans to release a cheaper MacBook with a version of the A18 Pro chip for the iPhone 16 Pro as early as the first week of March, according to several reports and leaks. This would be an all-new model, sitting below the MacBook Air in the Mac lineup, and would mark a revival of the “MacBook” brand (without the “Air” or “Pro” designation).
Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo was the first to reveal that Apple is reportedly planning a more affordable MacBook. Last year, he said the laptop would have around a 13-inch display and come in fun colors like green, blue, pink and/or yellow. Several rumors have specifically said that it will have a 12.9-inch screen.
The cheaper MacBook could have a lot in common with the discontinued 12-inch MacBook, including an ultra-thin and light design. However, this model was powered by Intel processors. Apple stopped selling the 12-inch MacBook in July 2019, so a similar model powered by Apple silicon has been a long time coming.
In the iPhone 16 Pro, the A18 Pro chip has a 6-core CPU and a 6-core GPU. The chip’s multi-core performance is similar to the M1 chip, so this new MacBook could effectively be a replacement for the MacBook Air with the M1 chip, and that could explain why it’s finally sold out at Walmart ahead of the launch of the cheaper MacBook.
However, the skyrocketing prices of DRAM and NAND memory chips could also have been a factor.
With the A18 Pro chip, the cheaper MacBook can only have 8GB of RAM, while all current MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models start with at least 16GB of RAM. The chip also lacks Thunderbolt support, so the new MacBook will likely feature regular USB-C ports, with slower data transfer speeds and limited external displays.