Apple and its suppliers are reportedly planning to kick off mass production of a pair of new MacBook notebooks that would feature Apple’s own silicon instead of Intel’s processors.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS:
- 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro updates coming.
- The new notebooks could arrive by the fall.
- Apple could preview these machines at WWDC.
Two redesigned MacBook Pros
This comes as a side-note in a Nikkei Asia piece today about the iPhone 12 mini allegedly facing substantial production cuts because Apple has misjudged demand for the device.
Meanwhile, Apple has rescheduled plans to begin mass producing two new MacBook laptops in the second half of the year, from the previous schedule of May or June, Nikkei has learned. The two MacBooks will be powered by the Apple silicon processor as part of a two-year transition away from longtime supplier Intel’s microprocessors.
The piece corroborates predictions by reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has predicted that Apple would release a new 14-inch MacBook Pro model alongside an updated version of the current 16-inch MacBook Pro one. Both computers are widely expected to ditch Intel processors in favor of Apple’s own chips, potentially launching in the second half of 2021.
Prior rumors have indicated that these upcoming Macs could also come outfitted with a brighter Retina display that might feature mini-LED backlighting. The MacBook Pro line should also re-introduce MagSafe charging alongside an SD card slot and an HDMI port.
The Touch Bar should be discontinued in favor of good ol’ physical function keys. However, these “fix everything” machines are not expected to feature integrated 5G cellular networking.
Last year, Apple updated the Mac mini, MacBook Air and 15-inch MacBook Pro with its M1 laptop chip. The machines are the company’s first Mac computers powered by Apple silicon. The iPhone maker has said that transitioning the entire Mac lineup to Apple silicon, including the Mac Pro workstation, is going to happen over the course of two years.