Apple (AAPL) stock has lost about 4.6% year to date, at the time of writing, Monday afternoon, April 6, according to Yahoo Finance. Meanwhile, the SPDR S&P 500 index (SPY) is down close to 3.5% in the same period.

And while Apple is slightly lagging the S&P 500, so are the rest of the Magnificent 7 members.

The rest of the Magnificent 7 stocks are also down in the same period:

• Microsoft (MSFT) is down almost 23%.
• Tesla (TSLA) is down 21.8%.
• Meta (META) is down 12.2%.
• Amazon (AMZN) is down 7.8%.
• Nvidia (NVDA) is down almost 5%.
• Alphabet (GOOGL) is down 4.4%.

What sets Apple apart from the rest of the Magnificent 7 is its AI strategy. Apple is betting that AI will become a commodity. This bet enables Apple to keep capital expenditures low.

While hyperscalers plan to spend nearly $700 billion this year, Apple’s planned capex is about $14 billion, according to Forbes. 

With less focus on AI, Apple has recently launched a very important product.

Bank of America says MacBook Neo unlocks $32B TAM in 2026.

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MacBook Neo’s impressive launch

Apple launched the MacBook Neo, a laptop priced at $599, on March 4.

The company has never priced its laptops so low, and in fact, this laptop is cheaper than the Apple Watch Ultra 3, which starts at $799.

According to IMARC Group’s research, laptops priced between $500 and $1,000 dominate the market. Apple’s entry into this market segment signals a major shift. 

The launch coincides with a large number of PCs no longer supported, as they can’t be upgraded to Windows 11 and therefore need a replacement (or a switch to Linux).

Here is what Jeffrey Clarke, Vice Chairman and COO of Dell, had to say about this during the Q3 earnings call in November 2025: “We have not completed the Windows 11 transition. In fact, if you were to look at it relative to the previous OS end-of-service, we are 10, 12 points behind at that point with Windows 11 than we were [with] the previous generation.”

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“If memory serves me right, the installed base is roughly $1.5 billion – 1.5 billion units,” he continued. “We have about 500 million of them capable of running Windows 11 that haven’t been upgraded. And we have another 500 million that are four years old that can’t run Windows 11.”

Unsurprisingly, MacBook Neo sold out fast: 9to5Mac reported that as of March 20, all eight MacBook Neo models are sold out online until next month.

Apple CEO Tim Cookposted on X on March 20:

“Mac just had its best launch week ever for first-time Mac customers. We love seeing the enthusiasm!”

Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan and his team recently revised Apple’s price target but didn’t address the MacBook Neo launch. They now conducted a full analysis of how the MacBook Neo will affect Apple stock.

Bank of America says MacBook Neo unlocks $32B TAM in 2026

Analysts noted that in the notebook category priced between $300 and $800, Apple had only 0.6% share in 2025, leaving a large opportunity for market share gains with the Neo model.

The team estimates the total addressable market (TAM) for 2026 is $32 billion. They derived this estimate from notebook units priced between $300 to $800 shipped in 2025, adjusted down 10% in 2026, and multiplied by Apple’s competitive education average selling price of $499.

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Mohan performed a sensitivity analysis at market share levels between 1% to 25% and operating margin between 15% to 22% to calculate the benefit to EPS. He wrote: “If Apple can drive 10% market share in 2026 at 19% operating margins, this equates to $0.03 of incremental EPS.”

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Analysts said that they believe Neo will drive meaningful adoption for first-time Mac owners with a distinct customer base relative to the Air and Pro models. They noted that the iPhone installed base is approximately 1.5 billion units, far above the Mac installed base of approximately 260 million.

The team believes that if Neo is successful at driving adoption of first-time Mac buyers, the overall installed base for Apple becomes stickier and can lead to increases in services use over time.

In a research note shared with TheStreet, Mohan reiterated a buy rating for Apple stock and the price target of $320, based on a 32 multiple of his estimate for EPS in 2027 of $9.94.

Analysts noted downside risks for Apple:

• Weaker iPhone cycle on consumer spending risk;
• Weaker near-term services trajectory;
• Gross profit dollars declining YoY next few quarters;
• iPads/Macs reverting to pre-COVID levels;
• Stronger dollar;
• Antitrust lawsuit;
• Potential trade conflicts, tariffs.

Upside:

• Stronger sales of Pro iPhone models;
• Potential new products (AR/VR) and services;
• Stronger than expected iPhone cycle;
• Tailwinds from lower memory costs;
• Faster than expected recovery in emerging markets.

Related: Bank of America reinstates Microsoft stock coverage