Apple launches new MacBooks with M5 chips, bigger base storage

(Reuters) - Apple on Tuesday unveiled updated MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models, featuring its latest M5-series chips and bigger base storage, in a bid to lure buyers in a softening PC market squeezed by rising memory costs.

The update includes a new MacBook Air powered by Apple's latest M5 chip and higher-end MacBook Pro models equipped with the new M5 Pro and M5 Max processors, ⁠which the company says deliver significant gains in performance and on-device AI capabilities.

The 13-inch MacBook Air starts at $1,099 and now comes with 512 gigabytes of storage as standard, double the base storage of the previous generation. In the older lineup, customers had to pay $1,199 to get a 512GB configuration, making the new starting price effectively a price cut for the same storage tier.

Since transitioning from Intel processors to its in-house M-series chips beginning in 2020, Apple has touted gains in performance and battery life, helping it differentiate from ⁠Windows-based PC makers.

The 14-inch MacBook Pro models powered by the M5 Pro chip start at $2,199 and now come with 1 terabyte of storage as standard, up from 512GB in many earlier base configurations.