New Reports Say Apple’s MacBook Air And MacBook Pro Updates Are Coming This Summer
Most sources say that the updated MacBook Pro will not arrive until the 4th quarter of 2016. Many believe that the MacBook Air will be discontinued because the Pro will be almost as thin. However, Mac Rumors suggests something different could happen.
“Apple plans to announce new MacBook Air models within the month of June, and begin shipping the notebooks to retailers in August, according to Japanese website Mac Otakara. The conflicting report also claims that Apple will announce a refresh to its entire MacBook Pro series this month, although it did not specify when shipments of those models would begin.”
“Am I the only one that found this entire report completely confusing?” asks Magicschoolbus.
“At this point, it’s basically ‘we have no idea and anything could happen,’ ” answers Cougarcat.
A couple weeks back, Gizmodo broke what appeared to be official news about the MacBook Pro.
“Dependable rumors suggest that the MacBook Pro is about to get major revamp. According to a new report from Ming-Chi Kuo at KGI Securities, Apple will release a dramatic redesign of the MacBook Pro in the fourth quarter. ‘Dramatic’ might be too small a word, actually.”
The article added that the new MacBook Pro will not only be thinner and lighter, but will have an OLED touch bar right above the keyboard, where the function buttons currently sit. The secondary screen will be touch sensitive and can be used for things such as shortcuts. The new MacBook Pro will also support Touch ID, USB-C, and Thunderbolt 3.
At first, there appeared to be a lot of excitement about the new MacBook Pro.
Who’s excited to see a new MacBook Pro at WWDC?
I am SUPER EXCITED!
— Nick Calderone ? (@NickCCal) May 24, 2016
However, within days, a huge portion of the Apple fan community showed anger.
“But it seems the company will have to win some fans over first, because many aren’t happy about these changes. One of the biggest complaints is Apple’s apparent switch to USB-C … and only USB-C. There are four ports — three more than the 12-inch MacBook has — but none of them are standard USB ports,” wrote Killian Bell from Cult of Mac.
Killian added that fans are also angry with the rumored change of the keyboard, which will allegedly offer thinner keys with less travel. Others are worried that the new OLED touch panel below the screen will also make the Retina screen look awful. They also don’t like the fact that it will take the place of the function keys.
“The source this time is Jarllytec, an Apple supplier based in Taiwan which has apparently started shipping the new hinges for this refreshed model, which are metal injection molded to allow for the slimming down of the device (while still keeping a robust enough hinge so the thing isn’t likely to break).”
The article adds that just because the hinges are shipping, it doesn’t mean the new MacBook Pro is going to be released anytime soon. Let’s hope Apple releases new information soon so people could stop speculating.
[Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]
