All of a sudden, Apple’s cheapest devices are fantastic value

As Apple fans (and Terry Pratchett fans) know well, there’s a difference between cheapness and value for money. The lowest price isn’t necessarily the best bang for your buck. You get what you pay for, and all that.

That’s an argument in favor of Apple’s product ecosystem as a whole, which consistently delivers a better user experience than those of its lower-priced rivals, but historically offers guidance within that ecosystem too. We’ve felt for some years that Cupertino’s inbetweener devices represent the most appealing compromise point between value and power, and that’s become particularly obvious recently as the company has leaned into its upsell strategy by leaving important features out of baseline products.

Until now, that is. All of a sudden, the received wisdom is in danger of being thrown out of the window. Right now, Apple’s entry-level products are looking like oddly fantastic value.

Take the 10th-gen iPad, Apple’s current baseline tablet. When this came out two years ago, I praised its design, larger screen, cameras, processor, and support for 5G—but couldn’t give it a recommendation because the price had jumped from $329 to $449 and I no longer regarded it as a budget tablet. Well, that price has come almost all the way back down now, and at $349 we can enjoy its qualities without caveats.

In the iPhone range, I wouldn’t go so far as to recommend the SE, which hasn’t been updated in a while and wasn’t especially dazzling even then (though next year’s update should change that in a big way). But it’s notable that this year’s non-Pro models are more appealing than they’ve been in a while. The iPhone 16 has its compromises, but these are palatable given the hundreds you’ll save by not going for the premium models.

More recently, Apple has made changes to its Mac lineup that are good news for customers on a budget. The entry-level MacBook Pro got most of the headlines when it received an M4 update last week with twice the RAM and an extra Thunderbolt port, but the quieter doubling of the MacBook Air’s RAM allocation at the same price points may be more significant because it brings solid performance under the $1,000 mark.

The highlight of Apple’s week of Mac announcements, however, was without doubt the M4 Mac mini. Aside from the new chipsets (which represent a double upgrade from the M2 it used to feature), the new model gets extra CPU and GPU cores, and a switch from rear USB-A ports to front-facing USB-C ones. The top tier of RAM has gone up to 64GB, and it’s easier to get support for three displays.

But far more significant than these worthwhile tech upgrades is the physical redesign, which sees the mini drop from 7.7 to 5 inches square, losing more than a pound of weight in the process. At last, we get a Mac mini worthy of its name. And it starts at just $599.

Are these recent examples indicative of a longer-term trend? Is Apple ready to ease off with the upselling, and accept that a big chunk of customers are interested only in the budget models and deserve to be looked after properly? Well, it’s hard to say at this point. If next spring’s new iPhone SE lives up to the more optimistic predictions, perhaps we’ll be on to something.

But in the meantime, let’s just enjoy the fact that Apple’s cheapest products are good. It may not last.

Foundry

Welcome to our weekly Apple Breakfast column, which includes all the Apple news you missed last week in a handy bite-sized roundup. We call it Apple Breakfast because we think it goes great with a Monday morning cup of coffee or tea, but it’s cool if you want to give it a read during lunch or dinner hours too.

Trending: Top stories

The truth behind Apple’s most unpopular decisions: It’s not about you.

The Mac mini finally lives up to its name.

The first Apple Intelligence features are hit-and-miss.

The M4 Mac mini illustrates Apple’s unhealthy power button obsession.

Apple’s week of exciting Mac announcements got off to a rocky start.

M4 Mac mini is smaller, mightier, and can connect three displays.

Apple’s Mac accessories finally switch from Lightning to USB-C.

Podcast of the week

This week is full of treats from Apple! We’ve got a new iMac, new MacBook Pros, and a new Mac mini, all sporting the new M4 chip! We talk about the new products and more on this episode of the Macworld Podcast! And we promise, no tricks!

You can catch every episode of the Macworld Podcast on Spotify, Soundcloud, the Podcasts app, or our own site.

The rumor mill

Did the new M4 iMac just tip us to a new Mac display coming from Apple?

Software updates, bugs, and problems

AirPods Pro 2 firmware 7B19 enables new iOS 18.1 Hearing features.

And with that, we’re done for this week’s Apple Breakfast. If you’d like to get regular roundups, sign up for our newsletters. You can also follow us on Facebook, Threads, or Twitter for discussion of breaking Apple news stories. See you next Monday, and stay Appley.