Apple gearing up for major product launch early as next week - sources

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
With inventory of its existing MacBook Pro notebooks becoming increasingly constrained with each passing day, Apple may be evaluating the possibility of launching revised models before month's end, AppleInsider has learned.



People familiar with the matter say the Cupertino-based company late this week began briefing several of its operating segments to be on stand-by for a significant product launch that could come as early as next week. Those same people were not yet made privy to the specifics of the launch, however, which had earlier been anticipated for the following week.



The briefings appear to coincide with an impending launch of the company's next-generation MacBook Pros, which AppleInsider previously reported were in production ahead of an unveiling slated to take place by early March.



The new notebooks are expected to sport Intel's latest generation Sandy Bridge processors, and will not be affected by a widely publicized design flaw found in chipsets that accompanied the first batch of shipments.



Similarly-situated people hinted to AppleInsider earlier this week that the inclusion of Sandy Bridge processors will not be the only change in store for the notebook lineup. Additional enhancements aside from a specification bump are expected, though exactly what those changes may be -- such as a potential unibody chassis redesign and other Apple-specific features -- aren't clear at this time.



Supporting reports that Apple could potentially escalate the release of the new notebooks by a week was a report Friday by Italian blog iSpazio, which received five new part numbers rumored to represent the new notebooks. That would be a slight change from the current lineup of six MacBook Pro models: two 13-inch, three 15-inch, and one 17-inch. The alleged product order numbers are reported to be:

MC720

MC721

MC723

MC724

MC725



In addition, as first noted by AppleBitch, Apple's shipping times on its Asian online stores for MacBook Pro models have slipped from their usual 24-hour window to between one and five days. The delays are currently seen in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Taiwan and Malaysia.



Earlier this month, Apple began quoting customers a wait time of four to six weeks for replacement of special build-to-order machines. Those with a faulty custom-configured notebook were apparently warned that replacement machines could potentially take as long as eight weeks to arrive.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 96
    And when are we going to get an iMac refresh? That's what I'm waiting for in particular. Hopefully they'll come in at the same time.
  • Reply 2 of 96
    Verizon sold out again new shipping 02/21/2011 or are we getting Iphone 5?
  • Reply 3 of 96
    Based on Apple's release history, it is more likely that we will see the iPhone 5 in June.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Smiles77 View Post


    And when are we going to get an iMac refresh? That's what I'm waiting for in particular. Hopefully they'll come in at the same time.



    Apple does not have a history of releasing new iMacs and MacBook Pros simultaneously.
  • Reply 4 of 96
    Quote:

    That would be a slight change from the current lineup of six MacBook Pro models: two 13-inch, three 15-inch, and one 17-inch...



    Haven't there been instances in the past where the 17" wasn't refreshed at the same time as the others? I hope that is not the case this time. I want a maxed 17"!
  • Reply 5 of 96
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Smiles77 View Post


    And when are we going to get an iMac refresh? That's what I'm waiting for in particular. Hopefully they'll come in at the same time.



    Good question, the iMacs average refresh cycle is 228 days, and we are at 206 days right now. Internal components on the iMac are very similar to MacBooks, so we should expect sandy bridge to make an appearance. However, Apple in recent years has moved to a yearly product cycle on many products including iPhone, iPad, iPods, and now MacBooks. It's possible they might not update the the iMac/Mac Pro desktop line until June, around WWDC.



    Personally, I would prefer Apple to move all it's products to a yearly cycle, butt much of that is dictated by Intel.
  • Reply 6 of 96
    cmf2cmf2 Posts: 1,427member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cvaldes1831 View Post


    Based on Apple's release history, it is more likely that we will see the iPhone 5 in June.



    I'm going to guess July solely because I don't think iOS 5 will be out before June 30th, the announced date that existing Apps must comply with Apples new stance on subscriptions and in-app purchases.
  • Reply 7 of 96
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,189member
    I'd like to see updated Mac Pros, since the X5675 (6-core, 3.06 GHz, 95W TDP) is now available.

    What I expect is Apple will just continue to milk customers for the old X5670. Gotta keep those profit margins above 30% if at all possible!
  • Reply 8 of 96
    herbapouherbapou Posts: 2,228member
    I hope they refresh the Air and the Mini soon, those are ones that interest me for a 2nd PC. Hoping for an sandy bridge i3 or i5



    I could also consider a SSD MBP if its thin and light
  • Reply 9 of 96
    VZ SOLD OUT THE IPHONES AGAIN!



  • Reply 10 of 96
    iPad 2 as the one more thing? I think so. Without Steve they'll just hold one event. If this is as major a redesign as everyone seems to think (with liquidmetal and all) a "small event" would be perfect and combining in the ipad 2 would be smart.



    At least I hope because I want one...
  • Reply 11 of 96
    White iPhone.
  • Reply 12 of 96
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by clickmyface View Post


    Good question, the iMacs average refresh cycle is 228 days, and we are at 206 days right now. Internal components on the iMac are very similar to MacBooks, so we should expect sandy bridge to make an appearance. However, Apple in recent years has moved to a yearly product cycle on many products including iPhone, iPad, iPods, and now MacBooks. It's possible they might not update the the iMac/Mac Pro desktop line until June, around WWDC.



    Personally, I would prefer Apple to move all it's products to a yearly cycle, butt much of that is dictated by Intel.



    I think laptops need to be updated more often than once a year. Tech moves faster than that.
  • Reply 13 of 96
    wingswings Posts: 261member
    For a minute there I thought the Apple Store graphic that was shown was for the new models, and the big disappointment was the 13-inchers were still Core 2 Duo. I see now that the graphic is for the existing models. Whew! There's still hope for an i5 in a 13-inch.
  • Reply 14 of 96
    ssquirrelssquirrel Posts: 1,196member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Smiles77 View Post


    I think laptops need to be updated more often than once a year. Tech moves faster than that.



    They can give speedbumps and storage changes during the year and keep up a bit better than they currently attempt to, but Apple also knows that people will buy it so why fix what isn't broken? heh





    Is it possible that one of these order numbers is actually for a standard MacBook? Maybe a 13" MacBook, 13" MBP, 2 15" MBP, 1 17" MBP? Or like I've mentioned on other threads, I think they could easily do away with the white MacBook and rely on the 11" MBA and iPad to be people's Gateway.
  • Reply 15 of 96
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Wings View Post


    For a minute there I thought the Apple Store graphic that was shown was for the new models, and the big disappointment was the 13-inchers were still Core 2 Duo. I see now that the graphic is for the existing models. Whew! There's still hope for an i5 in a 13-inch.



    I wouldn't count on anything higher than an i3 coming standard. There's a small possibility that an i5 could come in as an optional upgrade, but I'd highly doubt it. If you need that power, I think Apple would push you to go for a 15 inch.
  • Reply 16 of 96
    mr omr o Posts: 1,046member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by IronHeadSlim View Post


    White iPhone.



    Very good point. They'd better do it now because the iPhone 5 is allready around the corner ?
  • Reply 17 of 96
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SSquirrel View Post


    Is it possible that one of these order numbers is actually for a standard MacBook? Maybe a 13" MacBook, 13" MBP, 2 15" MBP, 1 17" MBP? Or like I've mentioned on other threads, I think they could easily do away with the white MacBook and rely on the 11" MBA and iPad to be people's Gateway.



    I doubt they'd have that few models, but I agree on your point about knocking off the white plastic model, if only because that would leave room to lower prices a bit on the pros.
  • Reply 18 of 96
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Smiles77 View Post


    I think laptops need to be updated more often than once a year. Tech moves faster than that.



    It's not as important as it used to be. Computers have reached the point where they are "fast enough" for all but the most demanding customers. Even those customers aren't going to buy a new computer because the CPU was clocked up 200MHz.



    Intel is on a predictable annual cycle, nVidia and AMD are settling into annual GPU upgrades and Apple always uses drops in component costs for things like hard drives to drive even higher margins.



    I think the future is annual updates for all computers. Hopefully the cycle will be set by Intel's January/February releases meaning a March release for all mainstream Macs. Apple has historically spread out their releases, sometimes just for the sake of spreading them out, but they've shown willingness to keep their iDevice dates on a fixed annual schedule. Now that Macs have become a fraction of their business having one release date for all mainstream notebooks and desktops and a second date for the Air and Mac Pro should be fine.
  • Reply 19 of 96
    mr omr o Posts: 1,046member
    I hope the new unibody design gets some clues from the Macbook Air:



    1. No optical drive.



    2. Tilted keyboard.



    3. The power button as part of the keyboard.



    But please keep ?



    1. The ambient keyboard lighting. (Dropped in the Macbook Air)



    2. The external battery indicator. (Dropped in the Macbook Air)
  • Reply 20 of 96
    I helped y'all out by reducing the stock of current MacBook Pros by one. Needed a 15" so I got one. Am I stupid? I do income tax returns on VMWare Fusion while I build websites with Adobe. I can not believe how fast this computer is compared to Core 2 Duo. The bootcamp partition running under Fusion on C2D with 4 Gb ram was practically unusable. Now I have Fusion(running Windows running tax software, Dreamweaver, Flash(yes, Flash), Photoshop,Indesign, Acrobat, Safari, Firefox, Opera, Mail and page outs are un-noticable and can even open Premiere without coming to a standstill all with only the stock 4 Gb. Sandy Bridge should be even better. Glad I got it cause this tax season is going great so far. I'll upgrade when Ivy Bridge debuts.



    Just in case anyone cares.



    Still think iPhone/iPad next week.
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