But this does make me wonder, how much of a difference is there really between the A chips and the M chips. Clearly they are similar enough if either can run iPadOS or Mac. Or is this a case of the operating systems having shared components that make this easier?

But then it does beg the question, why have the distinction in the first place if they are going to use the chips in other hardware. Originally I thought the distinction was that the M series was meant to not give the impression that the Mac line was "underpowered" running mobile chips like on the iPhone.

Apple has long sought to get back into the education market is once ruled before it was decimated by the launch of the Chromebook. A low-cost, plastic Macbook with stripped down features only available to the EDU market wouldn't be a bad play. They made EDU-only models before (sold the white Macbook long after it left general availability), and the A18 Pro chip has similar single-core performance to the M4 so if they can get the rest of the cost down it might be a hit.

[0]: https://www.macrumors.com/2025/06/30/apple-to-launch-low-cos...

The more apple devices in circulation, the more 30% cut from App Store, Ai Services, apple TV, music,games, earbuds and everything else.

They are now like a video games console maker selling games and accessories, except unlike console makers, they don't sell the device for an initial loss but profit.