William Gallagher
A new Apple iPad is expected to begin mass production in July, and the anticipated 16-inch MacBook Pro will follow in the fourth quarter, according to reports concerning component manufacturer Ruiyi.
Rumors of a forthcoming 16-inch MacBook Pro have received more confirmation from a report into the finances of component manufacturer Ruiyi. The new notebook is believed to begin being mass produced from the fourth quarter, while a new iPad is to enter production in July.
According to China's Economic Daily News, Ruiyi is the exclusive manufacturer of the backlight used in the screens of both the iPad and MacBook Pro.
Reporting on how Ruiyi's revenue for the first six months of 2019 reached 27.84 billion yuan, Economic Daily News says that this is an increase of some 26.8% since this time last year. And it advised that the company's performance is expected to benefit from these two Apple devices entering mass production.
The "fourth quarter" date for production of the 16-inch MacBook Pro fits with previous reports from IHS Markit and, separately, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has said that the machine will be released in the fall.
It may be announced alongside the new 2019 iPhones, and is expected to have a screen resolution of 3,072 by 1,920 pixels. It's not expected to have an OLED screen, and the information concerning Ruiyi's backlight isn't sufficient to support or deny that.
Kuo also predicted an addition to the iPad line, specifically two new iPad Pro models and an updated iPad mini.
While Ruiyi is cited as the exclusive manufacturer of backlights for the iPad and new MacBook Pro, the company does produce other items for Apple. According to China Times, Ruiyi also makes the "upper lid module" for the HomePod.
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
14 Comments
Interesting article. An additional laptop model can be a welcome addition. Why would Apple update the iPad mini when they just did so earlier this year? That part of the prediction doesn’t seem plausible.
Can't wait! My 2016 MBP keyboard finally has gotten to the point I need have to take it in for service and accept the downtime. Given 5 out 6 MBPs here have failed keyboards I'm hoping (though not expecting) they've introducing a new gen keyboard... if they don't then I'll just have to wait it out for another 6-12 months (if I had a choice I'd be on a ThinkPad now, but Apple has us iOS/Mac/etc devs reliant on Xcode... seems that the tables have turned over the years... used to be many PC/Win users were forced to use their machines and longly lusted for a Mac... now many Mac users are force to use our machines and longly lust for a PC... which can be found thin, all the ports and 4k OLED displays (e.g. XPS 15)
Sigh. I put off upgrading a late 2013 MBP until 32GB RAM was available, almost bough on the spring refresh but then held off on rumors of a new MBP... and now FOURTH QUARTER???
Sigh again.
Let’s see what these new iPad Pros are all about spec wise. 9 to 5 Mac states the iPad starting production in July is a 10.2 inch version although no specifics beyond that. I’m ready to upgrade from my 10.5 iPad Pro but will wait and see if these announcements pan out.