Updated MacBook Air and MacBook Pro With USB-C May Still Be Unveiled in June

[MacRumors]

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.

The report, citing "a reliable Chinese supplier," mentions earlier rumors that Apple will discontinue the smaller 11-inch MacBook Air to focus on 13-inch and all-new 15-inch models, although it is unclear if Mac Otakara's source is independently corroborating them. All of the new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models are expected to be equipped with Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports, while USB-A, MagSafe 2, and Thunderbolt 2 ports found on existing models will allegedly be removed.

Mac Otakara said it is unclear whether Apple plans to announce the new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models at WWDC 2016, but multiple reliable sources have indicated that it will effectively be a no-hardware event. Apple could still make a non-WWDC announcement in June by way of press release, as was the case with the new 12-inch MacBook in April, possibly indicating only minor updates.

Today's report is mostly in line with Taiwan's hit-or-miss Economic Daily News, which reported that Apple will announce slimmer 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models with "fully redesigned" internal components at WWDC 2016, followed by a launch in the July-September quarter. That report is from November 2015, however, so Apple's exact product roadmap may have changed over the past eight months.

Taiwanese website DigiTimes also reported that Apple will begin shipping new "ultra-thin" 13-inch and 15-inch MacBooks at the end of the June quarter. The report said the new MacBooks will "share a design similar to the existing 12-inch MacBook" and be "thinner than [the] existing MacBook Air," which makes it difficult to infer whether the report is referring to the MacBook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro lineup.

In a recent research note, however, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that Apple will not introduce new MacBook models until the second half of 2016, including a thin and light 13-inch MacBook in the third quarter, and two thinner and lighter 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro models in the fourth quarter. Other reliable sources have also suggested new Macs will be released later in the year.

In terms of the new MacBook Pro, Kuo said the 2016 model will feature a thinner and lighter form factor, Touch ID, and a new OLED touch bar positioned above the keyboard. Leaked photos of what appears to be the notebook's unibody revealed space for the OLED touch panel and four USB-C ports. The new MacBook Pro is also expected to adopt metal injection mold-made hinges, which are reportedly already shipping.

Other improvements to the 2016 MacBook Pro should include faster Skylake processors across the lineup, while the top-of-the-line models may sport AMD's new 400-series Polaris graphics chips. Apple last refreshed the 13-inch MacBook Pro in March 2015, followed by the 15-inch model in May 2015, with Force Touch trackpads, faster flash storage, longer battery life, and improved graphics.

Meanwhile, Apple has not fully refreshed the MacBook Air since March 2015, when both the 11- and 13-inch models were upgraded with faster Broadwell processors, Thunderbolt 2, and Intel HD Graphics 6000. The 13-inch MacBook Air also received up to two times faster flash storage. The only minor update to the lineup since then was in April, when Apple bumped the stock 13-inch MacBook Air to 8GB of RAM, up from 4GB.

Apple not updating the 11-inch MacBook Air with 8GB of RAM as well lends credence to rumors claiming the ultra-portable model will be discontinued.

While it is widely believed that Apple may eventually discontinue the entire MacBook Air, which currently sits awkwardly between the Retina MacBook and MacBook Pro, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo recently said the notebook will remain part of Apple's lineup for now, repositioned as its lower-priced offering.

We expect new MacBook Pro models to be thinner and lighter with better hardware specifications. As such, it will retain its high-end position in the line. MacBook will replace MacBook Air to become the medium-/ high-end model. As both MacBook Pro and MacBook have a thin and light form factor, there is no need to keep MacBook Air. For this reason, we predict no significant upgrade for MacBook Air going forward. Rather, it will serve as an entry-level model sold at low prices.

Apple's WWDC 2016 keynote will occur on Monday, June 13 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time.

Article Link: Updated MacBook Air and MacBook Pro With USB-C May Still Be Unveiled in June

 

[WinstonRumfoord]

Needs to be thinner, and with more bands!

 

[mango316]

This makes WWDC 2016 a bit more exciting!

 

[Lucasdavidgray]

So many rumors...

 

[Andres Cantu]

The notebook that keeps on going, for better or worse.

 

[gaximus]

I just want MacBook Air specs and battery with Retina screen, in either MBr or MBA form factor.

 

[magicschoolbus]

Am I the only one that found this entire repot completely confusing?

 

[DrJohnnyN]

Excited to see MAC updates.

 

[Cougarcat]

Am I the only one that found this entire repot completely confusing?

At this point, it's basically "we have no idea and anything could happen."

 

[BeefCake 15]

My wallet just got the chills at this announcement!

 

[bdkennedy1]

There's really no reason for the MacBook Air to exist anymore.

 

[Cougarcat]

There's really no reason for the MacBook Air to exist anymore.

There is until the MacBook can hit its current price points. Probably in another few years.

 

[MyopicPaideia]

This is probably a case of mistaken identity if true. Apple is not going to release new MBA's and especially not a 15" model. No, these are probably the new rMBP's in 13" and 15" models that are thinner than the current MBA's - as the leaked chassis photos corroborate.

 

[pat500000]

Get rid of wwdc. It is no longer "wow" event. If Apple brings up another oswatch update or another watch bands during this event, I would call wwdc world wide distasteful conference. I would like to see some hardware leaks. Next event is iPhone and probably another iPad or Apple Watch. Next year is probably iPad if they announce Apple Watch this year. And back to wwdc with software. And next year of sept is back to iPhone.

Wth? Bring out those macs!

 

[heeloliver]

I'd be ok with MBP not announced at WWDC as long as they are shipping by early September.

 

[cmChimera]

I give up. Apple has successfully confused everyone about ALL of their products. No one knows what the next iPhone is, no one knows what the hell is going on with Macbooks. Good job, Apple. Secrets successfully kept.

 

[DrumApple]

So hoping this is true! I like the MBA 13" much more than the new Macbooks. If only it had a retina screen it would be the perfect laptop. Kind of strange how they wouldn't be in stores until August though, they'd miss the big school/college buying season which really starts now.

 

[Mactendo]

Even analysts now go crazy about messed up Apple product line. Air, Pro, not Pro... 12",13",15"...

 

[ack407]

If I had to guess, from everything I've heard, Apple's gotten the form factor of the Pro down to a small enough point that they're going to just ditch the Air completely and merge the two. If you want something REALLY tiny, you get a Macbook, and if you want something with actual computing power, you get a Macbook Pro.

If they pull that off, it'll be the best of both worlds--very small, very light, very portable, very powerful. If so, shutupandtakemymoney.gif, but... I worry that it'll be a bunch of ompromises. Not particularly fast, not particularly small.

 

[2ilent8cho]

I love this bit of the article "but multiple reliable sources have indicated that it will be a software-focused event" , ermmm when has WWDC not been software focused? Yes hardware has been announced in the past but WWDC has always been software focused.

 

[Mactendo]

I won't be surprised if no one at Apple right now knows for sure what these models will be called. Probably Cook will decide at the last second before the WWDC. Should it be called Air? Or just a MacBook? Will we phase out Air and keep MacBook and MacBook Pro? Or will we keep Air and rename Pro to MacBook?

Total mess.

 

[gugy]

Come on Apple, unveil MBP and 5k displays. Give pros some love.

 

[wamsankas]

We actually might have an Apple event that has a surprise! The last few events everything had been revealed or leaked before hand. Seems like we might finally get a true "one more thing"

 

[Cougarcat]

I love this bit of the article "but multiple reliable sources have indicated that it will be a software-focused event" , ermmm when has WWDC not been software focused? Yes hardware has been announced in the past but WWDC has always been software focused.

MacRumors worded it poorly. Gurman and others have stated there will be *no* hardware at WWDC.

If I had to guess, from everything I've heard, Apple's gotten the form factor of the Pro down to a small enough point that they're going to just ditch the Air completely and merge the two. If you want something REALLY tiny, you get a Macbook, and if you want something with actual computing power, you get a Macbook Pro.

If they pull that off, it'll be the best of both worlds--very small, very light, very portable, very powerful. If so, shutupandtakemymoney.gif, but... I worry that it'll be a bunch of ompromises. Not particularly fast, not particularly small.

This will happen eventually. But they wouldn't be able to do this now and hit their sub-$1000 price points. Plus, I don't see why they would have bothered to recently lower Air prices if they were just going to get rid of them a month later.

 

[Mactendo]

Excited to see MAC updates.

It's Mac, not MAC.
MAC is a totally different thing.