It’s no secret that the Windows budget-market segment has been stagnating for years. While premium machines kept getting thinner, lighter, and faster, the affordable segment was stuck with five to seven year old technology and minor updates. 

Intel, it seems, wants to change that. In a recent Talking Tech interview, the company detailed how Project Firefly plans to drastically overhaul the budget laptop segment by creating a whole new ecosystem of laptops. 

What exactly is Project Firefly?

At the heart of the project is Wildcat Lake, a chip Intel custom-built for everyday users. It packs two P-cores for snappy performance and four LP E-cores for longer battery life, along with a small NPU and right-sized graphics that can handle smooth video playback and light gaming at 720p. Intel also went with a single-tile design and a cheaper six-layer motherboard to keep costs in check.

But a chip alone doesn’t make a laptop, and that’s where Firefly is different. It’s a reference design program that hands laptop makers a ready-made recipe, complete with the right chassis, screen, and form factor. The prototype Intel showed off is just 12.9mm thin, features a sturdy metal body , and comes in a lovely lavender color that the company calls its Intel color.

Instead of using the usual PC components, Intel raided the phone world, borrowing memory and audio chips from an ecosystem that’s far bigger and cheaper than the PC one. It even bundled its chip and phone memory into one neat package that laptop makers can pop straight into their designs, saving them a ton of time and effort.

Can it take on the MacBook Neo?

Intel never names Apple’s budget MacBook directly, and in the interview, the company insisted Firefly isn’t a response to any particular competitor. That said, Intel openly admitted it admires what Apple has built and wants to bring similar experiences to the broadest user base possible.

While Intel won’t say it out loud, the message is hidden in the subtext. It took the launch of MacBook Neo to wake up Windows manufacturers and push them to start taking the mainstream market more seriously, and for this reason alone, MacBook Neo has served its purpose. 

And if Firefly delivers, you won’t have to spend premium money to get a laptop that feels premium, and that’s a win for all of us.

Nearly three months after its debut, Apple’s MacBook Neo is emerging as an early success story, helping the Cupertino company reach new customers and challenging long-held assumptions about who buys a Mac.

Apple shipped 1.1 million MacBook Neo units in the quarter ended March, according to data from market intelligence provider IDC, shared with TechCrunch, ahead of the recent MacBook Air (M5) and MacBook Pro (M5) launches. Those MacBooks shipped over 900,000 and 550,000 units, respectively, in their debut quarters.

The figure is notable because the Neo was available for only about three weeks during the quarter after going on sale in mid-March, said Navkendar Singh, associate vice president at IDC, adding that shipments began to spike from early April.

Introduced in early March with a starting price of $599, roughly 45% below the entry-level MacBook Air, the MacBook Neo was designed to make the Mac more accessible to a broader set of buyers. The laptop retains much of the look and feel of Apple’s premium notebooks, including an aluminum chassis and a 13-inch Liquid Retina display, while making some compromises to reach the lower price point, including using an A18 Pro chip instead of an M-series processor and offering 8GB of memory in the base model.

So far, the market appears to be responding to Apple’s strategy. Demand for the Neo, Singh said, has exceeded expectations in several countries, including India, where retailers have struggled to secure enough inventory.

Of the MacBook Neo units shipped globally during the March quarter, 44% were shipped to the U.S., per IDC. India, meanwhile, accounted for close to 18,000 shipments despite the laptop being available for only a few weeks during the period.

The MacBook Neo starts at ₹69,900 (about $733) in India, compared with ₹119,900 (around $1,260) for the entry-level MacBook Air.

“Rising prices of Windows notebooks and attractive pricing of the Neo have led to its very high demand,” Singh told TechCrunch.

The Neo’s popularity could also reshape Apple’s strategy in markets such as India, where older MacBook models such as the M1, M2, and M3 Air have historically been important volume drivers when sold at discounted prices during sales events, according to IDC senior market analyst Bharath Shenoy.

“We need to see how that pans out going ahead due to Neo’s rising popularity,” Singh said.

Speaking during Apple’s April earnings call, CEO Tim Cook said customer response to the MacBook Neo had been “off the charts” and acknowledged that the company was facing supply constraints following the launch. Cook also said Apple had set a March-quarter record for customers new to the Mac, partly driven by the Neo.

Counterpoint Research sees the significance of the Neo extending beyond its early sales. The laptop is helping Apple expand beyond its traditional customer base by attracting first-time Mac buyers and competing in lower-priced notebook segments where Macs have historically had little presence, said David Naranjo, associate director at the research firm.

He added that the Neo could eventually help Apple increase its share of the $400-$699 notebook market from about 2% to around 15%.

“Although it is still early, the MacBook Neo launch stands out as one of Apple’s most strategically important recent Mac releases, especially as the wider PC market deals with rising memory costs and ‘shrinkflation,’ while Apple is expanding its reach,” Naranjo told TechCrunch.

IDC’s Singh believes the opportunity extends beyond first-time buyers. Apple, he said, is targeting the Neo at a much broader audience than previous Mac models, a strategy that could help the company gain share in consumer and small-business laptop segments.

The MacBook Neo’s early success is already prompting competitors to respond. Dell this week unveiled a new XPS 13, starting at $699, aimed at the same segment, and said the MacBook Neo’s arrival had demonstrated strong demand for premium-quality laptops at more accessible prices.

That said, the launch-quarter figures may tell only part of the story, with Singh forecasting a “very big spike” in Neo shipments in the current quarter as Apple works through supply constraints and expands availability.

Apple did not respond to a request for comments.