Rumor: Intel to push back Mac-bound Ivy Bridge chip shipments until June

Intel is rumored to have warned its partners that mass shipments of its next-generation Ivy Bridge processors, which are expected to make their way into Apple's Mac lineup later this year, will not begin until after June, though a "small volume" of chips will reportedly go out in early April.

Sources from notebook players have told Taiwanese industry publication DigiTimes that both Intel and its first-tier notebook vendors have built up troubling inventories of the current-generation Sandy Bridge Processors. As a result, the Santa Clara, Calif., chipmaker "plans to delay mass shipments of the new processors to minimize the impact," according to the report.

Intel is still expected to announce the new line of processors and ship a "small volume" of them in early April, tipsters said. They also added that mass shipments would then arrive sometime "after June."

The report went on to claim that notebook vendors have begun adjusting their projects for Ivy Bridge-powered models in light of Intel's delay. Sources also reportedly told the publication that PC makers don't expect a "PC replacement trend" until Microsoft launches Windows 8 in late 2012.

"The first three quarters of 2012 will still be a dark period for the notebook industry," the report noted insiders as having said.

According to an alleged leaked roadmap that surfaced late last year, Intel's Ivy Bridge chip candidates for the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air had been tentatively scheduled for a May 2012 debut.

AppleInsider reported last week that Apple will conduct a top-to-bottom revamp of its notebooks lineup throughout 2012 that will bring its MacBook Pro portables more in line with the MacBook Air designs.

One person familiar with the new designs told AppleInsider that the new machines are "all going to look like MacBook Airs." Apple is expected to revamp the 15-inch MacBook Pro first, followed by the 17-inch model a few months later. The next-generation machines are expected to built around Intel's Ivy Bridge micro architecture and rely heavily on Thunderbolt. However, the company's naming system for the new laptops as yet remains unclear.

An illustration of Apple's notebook lineup planned for the 2012 calendar year.

Rumors out of Asia have also pointed to a new thin-and-light 15-inch MacBook model arriving in the first half of 2012. Last December, DigiTimes claimed Apple is readying a Retina Display-equipped 15-inch MacBook Pro for release in the second quarter of 2012.

Latest Exclusives

Latest comparisons

59 Comments

marcusj0015 177 comments · 12 Years

About 12 years ago

God damn it!!!!!!!!111

tallest skil 43086 comments · 14 Years

Quote:

Apple is expected to revamp the 15-inch MacBook Pro first, followed by the 17-inch model a few months later.

Expected by whom? That looks pretty dumb to me. Apple made that mistake once before with the unibody transition. Did ANYONE actually buy the Late 2008 17" MacBook Pro, knowing what was coming?

Edit: OH, IT'S DIGITIMES. THE COMPLETELY WORTHLESS SNOT RAG WHOSE CONTINUED PRESENCE ON APPLEINSIDER BEMUSES ME TO NO END.

Also, take a long hard look at that "Intel HD Graphics 4000". It's possible that's all we're getting, even in the 17".

macky the macky 4801 comments · 15 Years

Oh, THAT"S the one I want to replace my old 2006 MBP. Finally a serious portable CPU!

apple ][ 9225 comments · 13 Years

Is that site really reliable?

Isn't Digitimes the site that has been dead wrong so many times in the past?

They're a Taiwanese site. What the hell would they or any of their so-called sources know about Intel? And I wonder who their sources are, some janitor that works in one of the factories?

Many of their past rumors have been proven to be completely garbage and untrue. I wouldn't trust anything that is written on that site. At the end of December 2011, they claimed that 2 iPads were to be released in Jan 2012. Oh wait, it's February 2012 already. What a bunch of morons.