Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Prediction: Apple pre-announces new MacBook Pro (i.e. announce before release)

spaceballl

spaceballl

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 2, 2003
2,943
365
San Francisco, CA
Typically Apple will announce a product, and then that product will ship either immediately or within a few weeks. My prediction is that Apple announces the new MacBook Pro at WWDC, but that they won't ship until the Fall. They've done this before: The Mac Pro, the original iPhone, the Apple Watch, etc. .

So yeah... I bet we see the MacBook Pro in a couple weeks, but we won't be able to buy it until the Fall, and it will come with the next version of OS X on it. In terms of their current lineup, I would imagine that they either just leave them for sale until they run out of stock or drop the price slightly.
 
What's your speculation on Apple's reasoning? It just seems strange to me for Apple not to release it during mid to late summer, when most college and grad students are looking to purchase a new laptop.
 
slayerizer said:
I'm sure you're right. Missing the back 2 school for the laptops would be a dumb mistake or very bad timing.
Click to expand...

I agree with with you. But, the articles like this one all say announcement in June, release in Fall.

Seems like a sure way to lose back to school sales to the Razor Blade or Surface Pro line ups.
 
  • Like
Reactions: old-wiz
I would not be surprised of a delay in shipment. The supply of components in the various leaks appears to be constrained.

And Apple may be concerned with the with a solid 4 years of sales (like the current RMBP) versus sales in the fall quarter.
 
Sully said:
I agree with with you. But, the articles like this one all say announcement in June, release in Fall.

Seems like a sure way to lose back to school sales to the Razor Blade or Surface Pro line ups.
Click to expand...

I still think it won't be that late.. anyway, I can tell you from people I know. Many young people don't really hesitate between mac and pc.. all they want is apple products (phone or computer).. let's wait one month! :)
 
Personally this is what I am now expecting. Apple has long been overly focused on IOS devices, allowing the Mac to stagnate in the face of it`s competition. With many factors at play; such as the significant improvement of Windows 10 over Windows 8 and associated user uptake, Windows OEM`s now making significant advancements in features, quality & design in some cases equalling or exceeding Apple, many economies now slowing down, combined with a strengthening Dollar.

Net result is Apple is left with an unexciting range of personal computers that in some cases are simply mediocre, being overpriced for the value they now represent. No one should be surprised that Apple is seeing a 40% drop in Q on Q sales for the Mac. I strongly suspect that Apple wants to now push hard for the Mac to make the difference, given the mobile market is at near saturation.

Apple needs to deliver more for it`s asking price, and or be far more realistic of it`s price points in the current general economy. Simply offering thinner & lighter with no additional feature or utility is unlikely to sway the average consumer. People are not buying Mac`s due to Apple not including Skylake, Kaby Lake etc. they are not buying Mac`s as the are simply too expensive in the current economic climate versus strong competition.

On the brighter side this will hopefully force Apple to be far less complacent with the Mac, equally Apple will need time to deliver a solid product. New rMBP may well now come as late as Q4 and Apple will just gloss over it at WWDC.

Q-6
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: SteveJUAE and JTToft
spaceballl said:
They've done this before: The Mac Pro, the original iPhone, the Apple Watch, etc. .
Click to expand...

The iPhone and Watch were new product categories so would not have impacted sales of their existing products in the meantime. The Mac Pro was the exception, but the old one was probably selling very few by the announcement.

There's no way they would do something like this for the MBP.
 
  • Like
Reactions: vatter69 and gifo
Loge said:
The iPhone and Watch were new product categories so would not have impacted sales of their existing products in the meantime. The Mac Pro was the exception, but the old one was probably selling very few by the announcement.

There's no way they would do something like this for the MBP.
Click to expand...

Didn't they do it with the new 5K iMacs too?
 
More 'ammunition' toward the idea of a fall release is that OEMs are currently announcing Kaby Lake based machines to ship this fall. With Kaby Lake coming this fall, it would be pretty lame of Apple to ship a Skylake machine right now. The MacBook Pro is so old that I don't think they're actually worried about cannibalizing sales by pre-announcing. If anything, they can drop the price of the current models by $100 or $200 if they need to in order to get rid of the inventory.

I used to be hoping for an announcement and immediate release, but I don't want a Skylake CPU at this point. I want Kaby Lake... and a magical way to easily power a 5K retina display...
 
spaceballl said:
More 'ammunition' toward the idea of a fall release is that OEMs are currently announcing Kaby Lake based machines to ship this fall. With Kaby Lake coming this fall, it would be pretty lame of Apple to ship a Skylake machine right now. The MacBook Pro is so old that I don't think they're actually worried about cannibalizing sales by pre-announcing. If anything, they can drop the price of the current models by $100 or $200 if they need to in order to get rid of the inventory.

I used to be hoping for an announcement and immediate release, but I don't want a Skylake CPU at this point. I want Kaby Lake... and a magical way to easily power a 5K retina display...
Click to expand...

Tend to agree as the current TB-3 systems have to "splice" in Intel`s Alpine Ridge controller adding more to the power/thermal budget, versus on chip with Kaby Lake. This also fits Apple`s ethos as Apple likes things simple, however the "fly in the ointment" is that Apple`s choice of CPU will likely be the same as Skylake being the last to be released.

Personally am starting to think that it`s better to wait on Kaby Lake for a TB-3 enabled system, as the benefit over time will be far more significant. Apple will no doubt react to the market and the timing is right, equally same as some others the 2016 MBP may prove to be a hallway house.

Q-6
 
  • Like
Reactions: JTToft
Nope. Apple has made it clear they do not care about having the latest chipset- see 15" MBP and 13"MBP release lags after Intel ships (or they just ignored the latest for the 15").

Apple will not have a 2 month lag for a laptop. This isn't a new product category. Companies don't do that for refreshes. They show the cool new goods and get them shipping quick. Apple then just opens themselves up for competitors to copy the design and ship before them. We had very short periods between part leaks and announcements for MacBooks in the past like last year rMB.
 
spaceballl said:
See the Ars post.

We'll have our answer in two weeks! I'm happy to be wrong... would love to get my hands on a new machine asap! Just a prediction :).
Click to expand...

Focusing on the period starting with the announcement of the iPhone, there have been, like, 7 releases of the MBP, the Air, and the iMac and at least 4-5 of the Mac Mini. Then there are at least that many iterations of the iPhone, the iPad, Apple TV , etc. It's north of 60 new-product-version releases. Now setting aside releases where they announced a whole new product category (e.g. the original iPhone, the original iPad, the Apple Watch) - which are appropriate to set aside because there was no prior Apple product from which they would cannibalize sales, they would only cannibalize sales from competitors, which is a good thing. Setting those aside what are we left with? Well, there's the new Mac Pro that you listed. And....?

So out of 60-some new product releases, they pre-announced an upgrade by a couple of months exactly one time (ok, let's say a couple of times, because it's not like I specifically remember all of these) and you're convinced that's what they're going to do now?

You sure know how to make gutsy predictions! Not necessarily well supported by history, but definitely gutsy...
 
Vladie said:
Focusing on the period starting with the announcement of the iPhone, there have been, like, 7 releases of the MBP, the Air, and the iMac and at least 4-5 of the Mac Mini. Then there are at least that many iterations of the iPhone, the iPad, Apple TV , etc. It's north of 60 new-product-version releases. Now setting aside releases where they announced a whole new product category (e.g. the original iPhone, the original iPad, the Apple Watch) - which are appropriate to set aside because there was no prior Apple product from which they would cannibalize sales, they would only cannibalize sales from competitors, which is a good thing. Setting those aside what are we left with? Well, there's the new Mac Pro that you listed. And....?

So out of 60-some new product releases, they pre-announced an upgrade by a couple of months exactly one time (ok, let's say a couple of times, because it's not like I specifically remember all of these) and you're convinced that's what they're going to do now?

You sure know how to make gutsy predictions! Not necessarily well supported by history, but definitely gutsy...
Click to expand...
Hehe relax... ✌️
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back