Apple’s MacBook Air M5 Gets Minor Upgrade, $100 Price Bump
Apple’s MacBook Air M5 Gets Minor Upgrade, $100 Price Bump
https://www.techbuzz.ai/articles/apple-s-macbook-air-m5-gets-minor-upgrade-100-price-bump
Publish Date: 2026-03-14 11:37:00
Source Domain: www.techbuzz.ai
Apple’s refreshed MacBook Air for 2026 brings incremental improvements but a less incremental price tag. The new model now ships with the M5 chip, Wi-Fi 7 connectivity, and doubles base storage to 512GB – but it’ll cost you $100 more than last year’s version. More significantly, the Air now sits in an awkward middle ground between the budget-friendly MacBook Neo (launched at $500 less) and the premium MacBook Pro lineup, forcing Apple’s most popular laptop to justify its positioning in a suddenly crowded market.
Apple just unveiled its 2026 MacBook Air lineup, and the updates are about as exciting as a minor point release. The new models pack the M5 chip, Wi-Fi 7 support, and a welcome storage bump to 512GB base capacity – but they also come with a $100 price increase that’s turning heads for all the wrong reasons.
According to The Verge’s hands-on review by Antonio G. Di Benedetto, the 2026 Air is “just as outstanding a computer as last year’s model” – which is both a compliment and an indictment. When your big selling point is maintaining the status quo while charging more, you’re walking a thin line.
The M5 chip delivers the expected generational performance improvements, though Apple hasn’t released detailed benchmarks yet. Wi-Fi 7 adds future-proofing for users investing in next-gen routers, and the storage doubling from 256GB to 512GB addresses a long-standing complaint about Apple’s base configurations. But here’s the thing: none of these upgrades feel essential enough to justify the premium.
What’s really reshaping the Air’s value proposition isn’t what Apple added – it’s what Apple launched alongside it. The MacBook Neo, introduced earlier this year, undercuts the 13-inch Air by a whopping $500. Di Benedetto calls it “an awesome little computer” that doesn’t invalidate the Air but certainly “paints it in a new light.”
This creates a fascinating dilemma for Apple shoppers. The Neo runs on the A18 Pro chip (borrowed from iPhone technology) and sacrifices…
