Kuo: Apple to release cheaper MacBook powered by iPhone processor

I didn't know the A-series had caught up so much. For single-core performance the A18 Pro sits between the M3 and the M4. Multicore is more complicated, but it's sitting around M1 performance, which isn't too bad for an inexpensive compute-light laptop (I'm assuming they price it correctly, they probably won't). Not a device for developers or certain compute-intensive work, but more than adequate for most people.

I'm wondering if this move is due to a surplus of A-series chips, or if it's to avoid having an entry level device tied to an "old" chip like the M1 or M2. The A18 was released last year so they can bill this as a recent enough chip (sufficient for basic laptops) instead of offering people a 4 or 5 or however year old M-series.

https://browser.geekbench.com/mac-benchmarks

I would enjoy a mac equivalent of the iphone 5c, would also be interesting to see what OS they end up running on it (ipados or macos probably). I know it doesn't entail this, but with the amount of power iphones have, could an iphone-sized macbook mini be realistic (not fiscally, there just aren't good things to waste money on nowadays)