Apple’s new entry-level devices are the best possible trap

Spring is the time of somewhat odd Apple announcements. We all know we’ll see the revisions to all of the company’s software platforms in June at the Worldwide Developers Conference, and that new iPhones and Apple Watches arrive in September. But spring? Anything can happen! The field’s wide open.

If this year’s spring announcements have a theme, it could perhaps be best summarized as “everything old is new again.” From the iPhone 16e’s iPhone-14-like design to the amazing staying power of the M3 line, Apple once again showed us how it loves to recycle.

But this week’s unveiling of the latest MacBook Air, Mac Studio, iPad Air, and base-level iPad demonstrate something else as well: Apple’s commitment to delivering legitimately good entry-level devices to welcome as many people as possible into its ecosystem.

The Air down there

The base-level MacBook Air has held down that $999 price point for years now. Apple clearly loves to have an offering that comes in (technically) under a thousand dollars. (Let’s not discuss sales tax.) Not only does it look good, but it provides a good hook to get people in the door…before convincing them to spend a little more to upgrade this spec here or that capacity there.

This time around, though, Apple’s offering a base-level MacBook Air with fewer compromises than before. Last year, the company introduced the M3 MacBook Air, but didn’t seem quite able to hit that $999 price point—the base-level M3 went for $1,099, so the company ended up keeping the M2 MacBook Air around to hold down the lower price.

Not so with the M4 Air, which not only starts at $999 but also—thanks to Apple’s across-the-board hikes with last year’s models—comes with 16GB of RAM. That M4 processor is no slouch either: while it might come with a binned version that features “just” 8 GPU cores instead of the standard 10, that’s no different from last year’s $1,099 M3 Air.

How did Apple manage to slide the M4 in at the sub-$1000 price point? The likely answer is scale. Yes, despite talk of the M3’s status as a dead-end line, it’s sticking around, but it’s also in relatively fewer devices (and, if I had to guess, devices that sell in lower quantities). The M4, meanwhile, is being cranked out for iMacs and Mac minis, as well as the upgraded Pro and Max variants. That volume can help Apple control cost-savings, and pass those on to its customers. The result: a pretty compelling $999 MacBook Air.

iPad-ing the lineup

Likewise, the iPad line saw updates to both the base-level $349 iPad, which now features an A16 processor, and the iPad Air, which gets an M3. I’m most interested in that lower-end model, in large part because it’s surprisingly compelling. Yes, it lacks many of the niceties of the higher-end models, like Face ID and ProMotion…but also, have we mentioned that it’s just $349? For that price, you can basically buy three for the price of most iPad Pros.

And while the base-level iPad may be the lone device in Apple’s lineup to not run Apple Intelligence, I don’t think that’s necessarily going to be the enticement to upgrade that the company probably hopes, given its spotty performance thus far.

That’s a bigger issue with the iPad line overall, where moving up to the iPad Air (or, honestly, the iPad Pro) doesn’t necessarily open up a lot of new capabilities. Yes, the Air has a better processor, a somewhat nicer display, and different accessory compatibility, but it’s got the same camera system, the same USB-C port, and the same Touch ID home button. I’d challenge most users to find things that they can do on the iPad Air that they can’t do on an iPad. And again, it’s $250 cheaper.

Good for me, good for you, good for Apple

For a long time, Apple’s modus operandi for selling its products has been a classic “good/better/best” strategy. Sometimes that’s in its overall product lines—the iPhone 16e/iPhone 16/iPhone 16 Pro, for example—or even within product configurations, like the new $999/$1199/$1399 MacBook Air offerings. But what happens when those “good” products, whether it’s the $999 MacBook Air or the $349 iPad, are good enough for most users?

I’m not just talking in terms of initial outlay either. I’m typing this on an M1 MacBook Air from 2020. It may not have the sleek design introduced with the M2 model or MagSafe or the latest version of Thunderbolt, but honestly, it works just fine. For the purposes I need it for, in fact, it works great: its battery still lasts me almost all day, its base-level processor handles everything I need to do on a regular basis, and I still haven’t filled up its 256GB of storage. Tempted as I am by that M4 MacBook Air, I simply can’t justify anything beyond window shopping.

Is the solid performance of its cheapest products a problem for Apple? No, not really. And that’s a testament to how the company has built its business: as long as it can still get customers into the door, it’s happy to sell them any product. Moreover, part of getting the cost curve down is that Apple still maintains its comfortable margins on products. It’s not like it’s out there selling a $499 MacBook Air. But it’ll always convince a smaller percentage of people to spend the extra money to upgrade storage or buy a more expensive device.

Like a perfect game of tic-tac-toe, Apple has maneuvered itself into a situation where no matter what choice customers make, it wins—as long as they buy from Apple.