Apple's (AAPL.US) new entry-level laptop MacBook Neo was officially launched on Wednesday. Given the market's initial response to the low-priced device, industry analysts believe this could be just the beginning of the tech giant's further expansion into the entry-level market.

Apple released the MacBook Neo last week, which comes in 4 beautiful colors, has an aluminum metal body design, and is equipped with a 13-inch Liquid Retina display. The price starts at RMB 4,599. MacBook Neo is equipped with the Apple A18 Pro processor previously used in the iPhone 16 Pro. It adopts a fanless design and runs completely silently. With this cheaper computer, Apple aims to target Chromebook and low-end Windows users, as well as people who might want a MacBook but find the price unaffordable.

Tianfeng International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the next-generation MacBook Neo, which he calls Neo 2, may not come with a touch screen, although he originally thought it would. Ming-Chi Kuo added that although MacBook Neo only entered the "low-volume production" stage in December last year (mass production was three months later than expected), shipments this year may be around 4.5 million to 5 million units, "which is still a very strong number for a single laptop model."

Ming-Chi Kuo believes that the shipment momentum of MacBook Neo should remain stable this year for two reasons: back-to-school season and holiday shopping demand, and due to memory chip prices, competitors may not be able to match it on price before the end of the first half of next year. "Therefore, from the second quarter of 2026, more laptop models may start to increase prices due to rising storage costs, making it more difficult for them to compete with Neo."

Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani said the MacBook Neo, which starts at $599 ($499 for education users), will help fill a "gap" in Apple's MacBook product line, allowing it to enter the education market, where Google's (GOOGL.US) Chromebooks and Microsoft's (MSFT.US) Surface devices are popular.

Daryanani wrote in a note to clients: "The launch of MacBook Neo positions Apple more clearly in the mid-range PC market, where it will face more intense competition from traditional PC OEMs. In addition, Neo also strengthens Apple's 'flywheel effect', attracting more price-sensitive consumers into the Mac ecosystem and deepening cross-device interaction through integrated features with iPhone (such as Handoff), which may ultimately drive more hardware and services revenue growth."

JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee agreed, saying the MacBook Neo will allow Apple to "significantly" increase its share of the computer market to compete with Chromebooks and Windows devices. Chatterjee explained: "We believe that MacBook Neo will enable Apple to significantly increase market share, as lower-priced segments generally correspond to higher sales volumes. In addition, MacBook Neo uses the A18 Pro chip - which is also the chip that drives the iPhone 16 Pro series, and already has a mature supply chain, which helps to smoothly promote the production and delivery of new products."