Someone gave the MacBook Neo the 1TB storage upgrade it never got from Apple

Apple launched the $599 MacBook Neo on March 11, a budget Mac powered by the A18 Pro chip from the iPhone 16 Pro, 8GB of unified memory, and a 13-inch screen. Though it offers decent specifications for the price, there’s a catch: the storage tops out at 512GB. 

However, a Chinese repair technician, DirectorFeng, has swapped the default NAND chip for a 1TB chip, effectively unlocking the MacBook Neo’s storage. The technician has posted the entire video on a YouTube channel. 

How did DirectorFeng pull this off?

DirectorFeng replaced the NAND flash drive soldered to the MacBook’s logic board and then reflashed macOS, so it recognizes the third-party driver and storage. The process involved removing the original chip, cleaning the solder pads, and installing a higher-capacity replacement using professional repair tools. 

This wasn’t a screwdriver-and-YouTube-tutorial situation; this is microsurgery on a logic board, the kind that makes most people’s palms sweat. However, once reassembled, macOS recognized the larger-capacity NAND drive without firmware issues, and storage performance appeared normal as well. 

The storage, as seen in the video, goes up from 256GB to 994.61GB (marketed as 1TB). Once the process was complete, the replaced drive offered read and write speeds of 1,551 MB/s and 1,506MB/s, respectively. 

Should you try upgrading your MacBook Neo’s storage?

It’s worth noting that Apple uses soldered NAND rather than a removable SSD, which implies that any capacity change would require microsoldering and would almost certainly void the manufacturer’s warranty. However, the successful storage upgrade indicates that the Neo is relatively easier to work on than other MacBooks. 

Is this a consumer-friendly upgrade? No. Should you try upgrading your MacBook Neo’s storage yourself? Certainly not. The only key takeaway here is that the device works with third-party storage without any firmware issues. So, a storage upgrade, at least in theory, is possible.