2016 expected to be a big year for Apple's MacBook lineup, upgrades to arrive in coming months
Continued growth for the MacBook lineup -- particularly in enterprise markets -- will be a bright spot for Apple in 2016, further bolstered by an update in the first half of the year, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
Kuo, of KGI Securities, believes the MacBook lineup could lead the way for Apple in terms of growth this year. He said Apple's notebook lineup has seen "solid growth" among businesses, and he expects sales will accelerate with upgrades likely to arrive by June.
Demand for newly upgraded MacBook models will also benefit Apple suppliers SZS and Casetek, Kuo said. His forecasts were revealed in a note to investors on Sunday, a copy of which was obtained by AppleInsider.
Though new MacBooks are apparently in the works, little is known about the anticipated upgrades. It's likely that Apple is waiting on new "Skylake" processors from Intel for its next-generation notebooks.
The Skylake platform is Intel's follow-up to Broadwell, and will offer the usual performance improvements -- boosting CPU speeds by 10 to 20 percent, and integrated graphics chips by 16 to 41 percent -- but also continue a trend towards efficient power use, thanks to smaller 14-nanometer architecture. In laptops, switching to Skylake could add as much as 30 percent more battery life.
Kuo didn't offer any specifics on what other upgrades Apple's new notebooks might offer, nor did he indicate which of the company's lineup will see updates. But Sunday's report was the well-connected insider's first indication that new MacBooks will arrive in the first half of the year.
One report published last November projected that Apple will introduce a revamped Macbook Air lineup at its Worldwide Developers Conference in 2016. It was said that Apple is planning to extend the form factor to include a larger 15-inch model potentially in lieu of an 11-inch version.
Kuo, of KGI Securities, believes the MacBook lineup could lead the way for Apple in terms of growth this year. He said Apple's notebook lineup has seen "solid growth" among businesses, and he expects sales will accelerate with upgrades likely to arrive by June.
Demand for newly upgraded MacBook models will also benefit Apple suppliers SZS and Casetek, Kuo said. His forecasts were revealed in a note to investors on Sunday, a copy of which was obtained by AppleInsider.
Though new MacBooks are apparently in the works, little is known about the anticipated upgrades. It's likely that Apple is waiting on new "Skylake" processors from Intel for its next-generation notebooks.
The Skylake platform is Intel's follow-up to Broadwell, and will offer the usual performance improvements -- boosting CPU speeds by 10 to 20 percent, and integrated graphics chips by 16 to 41 percent -- but also continue a trend towards efficient power use, thanks to smaller 14-nanometer architecture. In laptops, switching to Skylake could add as much as 30 percent more battery life.
Kuo didn't offer any specifics on what other upgrades Apple's new notebooks might offer, nor did he indicate which of the company's lineup will see updates. But Sunday's report was the well-connected insider's first indication that new MacBooks will arrive in the first half of the year.
One report published last November projected that Apple will introduce a revamped Macbook Air lineup at its Worldwide Developers Conference in 2016. It was said that Apple is planning to extend the form factor to include a larger 15-inch model potentially in lieu of an 11-inch version.
Comments
If I was running Apple I'd separate the MacBook, Air and Pro models by a 2" screen size difference. I'd narrow out the bezels and I'd have 12", 14" and 16" machines separated by name, thinness, processing power and port count:
MacBook Retina (12")
MacBook Air Retina (14")
MacBook Pro Retina (16") 'A power monster'
I passed up the MacBook and waited for the iPad pro. I am extremely pleased with that decision.
By the time Intel fixes the yields of their Skylake Core M processors, the release of the A10X will be imminent.
That should be about enough to pluck the wallet out of my pocket.
There are already laptops with Skylake processors, since November you can buy them.
I'm waiting just for a MBA Retina and I will buy it to replace my 2010 MBA
Skylake has graphical performance improvements but CPU performance improves by 5% at most, Intel's numbers are bogus marketing fluff.
Skylake is is actually less power efficient than Haswell/Broadwell because it lacks the fully integrated voltage regulator. It makes up for that somewhat with new sleep states but the OS and drivers have to be customized to use that, as Microsoft has found out the hard way with the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book.
I will be moderately surprised if Apple does an MBA redesign. I expect these rumors of new 13/15 notebooks to be redesigned rMBP's rather than Airs.
(My 2012 15" is in brilliant shape. And blazingly fast. Not sure how much more Apple can truly deliver except longer battery life, larger HD, and a tad lighter for the same price).
I would just present it as one MacBook lineup though with different price points depending on size, cpu, memory, disk etc. You could get a cheaper, weaker 16" if you aren´t a power user but want a bigger screen, for example.
When you compare applications on a Surface Pro with the iPad Pro apps, you need to keep in mind that Apple controls both iOS and A Series development; Adobe will develop for where the money is, and for mobile, that is solidly iOS. I would be surprised if Abobe embraces Universal Apps anytime soon, hence, Surface will be solidly "legacy" and losing mobile.
Apple may introduce a Macbook with "A" series processor, but only for the lower end MacBooks (e.g. Macbook) which are meant for non-power user. I highly doubt it'll be in the high end series such as the rMBP 15" as power users wouldn't want an ARM processor for many reasons. Especially now that the base model of rMBP 15" comes with 16GB RAM, it's very suitable to run many VMs (especially Windows VMs).
Macbook Pro
15" or larger Retina Display (wishing for 17 inch)
32-64 GB RAM
Fastest Intel Quad or more CPU
Faster AMD or nVidia GPU
2 TB or more SSD (wish there was space for 2)
2 or more USB C ports with thunderbolt
2 or more USB 3.0 ports
HDMI port that handles 5K monitors.
SD card slot that handles fasted cards
Touchscreen display (dreaming)
12 hour battery time
That's exactly the point.