MacBook Air, MacBook Pro 2016: Analyst Sees Both Arriving Soon.
When is the MacBook Pro arriving? And is the MacBook Air dead? Read on.
Here’s the quick answer to those two questions, according to a projection from Rhoda Alexander, Director Tablet and Notebook PCs at IHS Markit Technology, who I had some back and forth with this past week: “Production started in the second calendar quarter on refreshes of the 13.3-inch and 15.4-inch MacBook Pro [and] the 13.3-inch MacBook Air,” Alexander said. She added that IHS has been predicting that the “products will launch in late September or October of 2016.” (But note that there are only a few days left in September.)
Which Intel processor? She said that “given the timing of the start of production, inclusion of [Intel's] Kaby Lake chip appears unlikely.” Note that whether Apple will use the Intel Skylake processor or the newest Kaby Lake silicon is anyone’s guess (I’ve given up trying to speculate). That said, Alexander reiterated in a phone conversation that the Q2 production start may preclude Kaby Lake.
I also checked in with Intel and they really had little to add beyond what is already public. The Intel processor model database, the most official accounting of what’s available, shows a much wider selection of mobile Skylake processors (particularly the quad-core variety) versus the very short list of mobile Kaby Lake processors. Apple did not respond to my request for comment.
The only problem with opting for Skylake is that Kaby Lake offers better graphics chip performance. Since Apple seems to emphasize graphics these days, that means the new MacBooks would be locked into the older Skylake design for months.
And based on past conversations I’ve had with analyst Daniel Matte at market researcher Canalys, it’s likely that Apple will include an option for AMD’s latest “Polaris” graphics processors.
Another report backs up IHS projection: A report from Bloomberg in late August said that “Apple is planning to release some of the new Mac products as soon as October,” citing people familiar with the matter. “The updated line includes tweaked MacBook Air devices with multi-functional USB-C port technology and iMacs with an option for new graphics chips from Advanced Micro Devices,” Bloomberg said.
The new “thinner” MacBook Pro will have a “flatter keyboard,” Bloomberg said in an earlier article. That earlier article (dated August 10) said the new high-end MacBook Pros will be thinner “but are not tapered like the MacBook Air and latest 12-inch MacBook,” adding that the “new MacBook Pros have a smaller footprint than current models and the casing has shallower curves around the edges.”
The most widely cited MacBook Pro feature (again, this is still speculation) is a new-fangled, OLED display-based “dynamic” set of function keys that shows a virtual representation of the keys based on the task the user is doing. Other likely features for the MacBook Pros are the addition of USB-C ports and Touch ID fingerprint identity sensors, possibly next to the new function key display.
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