Roger Fingas
Apple is expected to release just three new MacBook models this fall, according to a research report released on Tuesday, possibly reaffirming claims that the company is planning to drop the 11-inch model of the MacBook Air.
"Apple's three new notebook products are also expected to see strong sales in 2017, helping the vendor to regain a double-digit percentage on-year growth," DigiTimes Research wrote. The firm noted that global notebook sales will likely be down in the final tally of 2016, in part because of Apple's late MacBook updates.
The statement would be consistent with a Monday Macotakara report claiming that Apple is planning to announce new 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pros in the next few days, and upgrade the 13-inch MacBook Air. The trio could ship by the end of October.
While the 11-inch Air is Apple's cheapest laptop at $899, it achieves that price point with a relatively cramped display. For the same price, customers can buy a 12.9-inch iPad Pro equipped with an identical 128 gigabytes of storage.
It's not clear what kind of upgrades the 13-inch Air might get, but the new Pros are widely rumored to be getting an OLED "Control Strip," with context-sensitive commands. Also rumored for the MacBook Pro is the addition of a Touch ID sensor, which might not only simplify security but enable Apple Pay without a separate device for authentication.
Wesley Hilliard
AppleInsider Staff
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
60 Comments
Good, kill the 11". And please give us a 13" Retina MBA. It has more ports than MacBook, greater battery life, especially when the system is under stress and has MacSafe and great keyboard travel. All it's missing is USBc (Thunderbolt 3) and Retina. Personally, if I were running Apple I'd lower MacBook to $899-999 with an additional 128 GB model (add $ for larger HD and faster proc), I'd tweak MBA and give it a narrow-bezel design, USBc, 14" Retina display and I'd introduce a narrow-bezel 16" MBP. Giving the consumer a clear-cut separator between the products. More ports, more power, more battery, larger display in 2" increments. And like I keep saying, I'd kill the jack and give the product Lightning for its headphone port and optional charging in a pickle.
"DigiTimes"...smdh
- With 12" Retina Macbook:
1. 14" Retina Macbook - with more ports
2. 14" Retina Macbook Pro - with more ports and OLED strip
3. 16" Retina Macbook Pro - with more ports, OLED strip and dedicated GPU.