The Macbook Neo is Apple’s newest release and arguably their most innovative product in a long time. It’s marketed as being budget friendly, great for students, and most importantly: colourful.

In Apple’s tech line-up sea of monotone palettes, the Macbook Neo stands out with bright yellow (citrus) and light pink (blush) variants. For this laptop, its vibrancy is a feature. 

But does this feature actually sell?

The advertising

Multiple ads for the Macbook Neo showcase the laptop as having “four stunning colours”: citrus, blush, as well as the usual indigo and classic silver. Beyond this, its aesthetics are supported through colour coordination, with the laptop’s keyboard, default wallpaper and feet. 

The Macbook Neo’s blush pink and citrus yellow are expressive and fun colours, conveyed in most of their ads with fluid transitions from one colourway to another. Even the indigo, which replaces the traditional black, adds a less harsh look to the overall line-up.

On Tiktok, Apple has gone a more abstract route and posted multiple seemingly unrelated videos, which are actually linked to the available colour-matched variants that are now available. This draws the attention of potential users towards these new colourways as well as brings forward greater engagement towards their socials. Overall, their marketing drives home the new colours as being a main feature of the Macbook Neo.

expression

There’s a big reason why we’re seeing consumers move away from the usual greys, and it has everything to do with the prevalence of tech in our day to day lives. People are starting to see technology (and other things they own) as an extension of themselves. Therefore, they want the things they own to reflect who they are. 

Apple understood that before any other major tech company, bringing an identity to the Macbook Neo- and in turn, to those who use it- that goes beyond technology as just a tool.

The Macbook Neo being at an affordable price only helps its case, as there’s not usually this sort of personality in mid-range laptops.

So… how well does colour sell?

TrendForce estimates the Macbook Neo will sell anywhere from four to five million units this year. In just its debut quarter it sold 1.1 million units. Apple’s Mac sales have also gone up nearly 30% from June of last year, no doubt due to the Mac Neo.

And it’s not just the Macbook Neo. A year ago, the iPhone 17 pro max came out with a ‘cosmic orange’ variant that surprised many of their usual customers. Brand revenue rose to $58.5 billion from $52.6 billion in the previous year in America during that time.

So, I’d say the Neo pulled through for Apple’s sales and that colour absolutely had something to do with it. Just goes to show how much just adding a little personality to such a prevalent modern-day item can make all the difference.