Rumor: Apple's 12-inch MacBook Air to enter production in Q3
A report out of East Asia on Tuesday claims Apple's partner manufacturers will begin production of the long-rumored 12-inch MacBook Air sometime in the third quarter.
Apple's 2014 product roadmap as predicted by KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
Citing the usual upstream supply chain sources, hit-or-miss Taiwanese publication DigiTimes reports Quanta Computer will begin mass production of the rumored 12-inch MacBook Air in quarter three, which technically starts in July.
According to the publication, Apple is planning to stick with the current MacBook Air design, with only minor unseen tweaks to rearrange certain internal structures and accommodate an adequately sized battery.
Sources said Apple is introducing the new format Air to delineate a clear boundary between the 11-inch model and the iPad Air, which boasts a 9.7-inch screen. Confusingly, the same sources contradict themselves by claiming Quanta Computer was chosen to build a rumored 12-inch iPad in the second half of 2014, a move that would completely negate efforts to define product boundaries by screen size. In any case, the super-sized iPad project has supposedly been delayed.
The timing is consistent with predictions from noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a strong track record in forecasting Apple's hardware releases, said in April that he expected Apple to launch a 12-inch Air towards the middle or end of the third quarter.
Kuo believes the new model will be a combination of the 11-inch MacBook Air's portability and the 13-inch model's performance. He also noted that the 12-inch thin-and-light could be the first MacBook Air model to feature a Retina-quality display.
Apple's 2014 product roadmap as predicted by KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
Citing the usual upstream supply chain sources, hit-or-miss Taiwanese publication DigiTimes reports Quanta Computer will begin mass production of the rumored 12-inch MacBook Air in quarter three, which technically starts in July.
According to the publication, Apple is planning to stick with the current MacBook Air design, with only minor unseen tweaks to rearrange certain internal structures and accommodate an adequately sized battery.
Sources said Apple is introducing the new format Air to delineate a clear boundary between the 11-inch model and the iPad Air, which boasts a 9.7-inch screen. Confusingly, the same sources contradict themselves by claiming Quanta Computer was chosen to build a rumored 12-inch iPad in the second half of 2014, a move that would completely negate efforts to define product boundaries by screen size. In any case, the super-sized iPad project has supposedly been delayed.
The timing is consistent with predictions from noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a strong track record in forecasting Apple's hardware releases, said in April that he expected Apple to launch a 12-inch Air towards the middle or end of the third quarter.
Kuo believes the new model will be a combination of the 11-inch MacBook Air's portability and the 13-inch model's performance. He also noted that the 12-inch thin-and-light could be the first MacBook Air model to feature a Retina-quality display.
Comments
I can definitely the logic in replacing 11" and 13" MBAs with a 12" model and I'd love to see a new Mac mini and Retina Thunderbolt Display, too.
But then if that 12" new Air model has a retina screen, how do you make the 13" Retina Pro differentiated?
Did they forget to put the Mac Mini on that chart? The Mac Mini hasn't been upgraded in ages, and since 2014 is supposed to be the mother of all product releases for Apple, I would definitely expect to see a new Mac Mini. According to another site which tracks release dates, it's been 608 days since the last Mac Mini Release.
I am of course typing this for purely selfish reasons, as I'm thinking about picking up a Mac Mini, but there had better be some new ones soon.
I'm also looking forward to the new iPad releases. I doubt that there is going to be any larger iPad or any iPad Pro this year, but I'll be more than happy with a faster and more powerful iPad Air with Touch ID.
It'll also be interesting to see what the rumored "iWatch" is like. Also the new, larger iPhones should be interesting.
Actually, if Apple releases all of the products indicated on that chart in 2014 and also the Mac Mini, which is absent from that chart, then this will indeed be a very busy and good year for new Apple product releases.
They also made no mention to the iPods which will have gone a full two years so I think it'll get an update.
They also made no mention to the iPods which will have gone a full two years so I think it'll get an update.
Which iPod are you talking about, because according to that other site which I probably shouldn't mention on here, it's only been 286 days since the last iPod Touch, iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle release.
Then my mistake. For some reason I thought the HW for those hadn't been updated since 2009 for the iPod Classic, 2010 for the Shuffle, and 2012 for the Nano and Touch, save for the Touch getting a low-cost16GB version in May 2013.
edit: MacTracker seems to match up with my dates. The September 2013 updates appear to be changes to the casing color, not to the design, performance, or features.
Then my mistake. For some reason I thought the HW for those hadn't been updated since 2009 for the iPod Classic, 2010 for the Shuffle, and 2012 for the Nano and Touch, save for the Touch getting a low-cost16GB version in May 2013.
If I hadn't looked it up, then I wouldn't have known either, since I haven't been keeping close track of any iPod developments these past few years.
You're right about the Classic though. That thing hasn't seen an update since 2009. I'm thinking that it's pretty much dead, even though Apple still sells it.
I wonder if they will lower the price or keep it the same?
But there is no 11" Macbook Air. It is 11.6" which as we know can be better described as 12".
If true it could have an industry standard 1080p 12" screen, maybe even switching from using a cheap TN panel to the IPS type.
The Classic really hasn't seen an update since 2007, when the iPod Touch was introduced. The 2009 "update" just consolidated the storage options to the sole 160GB model. That being said, I expect it will be discontinued soon, and I would expect the rest of the iPod lineup to largely be ignored. A new Touch is all I would count on.
Well past time for a new Mini, though. I hope they're not waiting for Broadwell.
12" MBA (retina) to be the first Mac with touch screen. Will replace entire MBA line
Is it using an intel CPU or a ARM CPU?
It is highly unlikely that Apple will switch to an ARM CPU in their Macs anytime soon. One of the most important advantages of the Intel CPU is x86 compatibility, which lets people run Windows and Windows programs on Macs (Bootcamp, Parallels, etc.).
Better battery performance from an ARM CPU would not offset the loss of the x86 binary compatibility. Mac notebooks already have excellent battery performance, so there is little pressing need to sacrifice x86 application support for extra life.
There may also be chipset, GPU, and memory performance considerations with ARM that are disadvantageous vis-a-vis Intel architecture. Again, if the main ARM advantage is lower power consumption, that does not appear to be sufficient reason to switch architectures at this time.
Anyhow, this whole rumor sounds half-baked. It is DigiTimes after all. Perhaps ~95% of what they publish about Apple ends up wrong.
This statement alone inclines me to disbelieve this report.
What performance difference is Kuo referring to when the only difference between the two Macbook Airs are the SDXC slot, screen size and battery size?
Yep they forgot that.
They forgot that mention as well.
Classic seems to be dead because all it is is large capacity harddrive and now apples only devices with 1/2 harddrive are IMac and Mac mini.
Most likely Retina.
If it's retina they probably will have it between $1200 and $1500 and keep the old.
Likely still uses intel.
People exclude the decimals, and it seems to point that despite a 1 inch smaller screen the new Mac book air will have same resolution as the 13 inch retina MacBook Pro.
With this all pointed out a elimination of the 13 inch Mac book pro may be possible and this long awaited retina Mac book air could replace it.