New 13-inch MacBook Air production reportedly pushed into second half of 2018
Apple has yet to start mass production on a rumored MacBook Air refresh, according to a supply chain report, with volume manufacturing for the notebook allegedly delayed to sometime in the second half of 2018 instead of commencing in the second quarter.
Supply chain partners were apparently informed of the slip in production schedule by Apple, according to sources of DigiTimes. The delay pushes back the rumored model's manufacturing to some point later this year, though exactly when is unknown.
It is claimed Apple did not provide an explanation to vendors for why the production timeline changed. Report sources speculate it could have been caused by shortages of some key components for the notebook, such as processors and other chips.
The deferred manufacturing will apparently cause firms in the supply chain to hold on to more components than usual, while related production lines will be underutilized for the immediate future. It is believed vendors will be affected until Apple starts accepting shipments again, which sources suggest could occur in the third quarter.
As volume production for the annual iPhone refresh is also expected to ramp up in the third quarter, this may cause an employment issue at later manufacturing stages. Downstream assemblers in China may have to compete against each other to assemble the necessary workforce to produce both the iPhone and MacBook Air.
A lower-cost MacBook Air update has been rumored for a short while, with initial suggestions pointing to a second-quarter 2018 update for the product line. Considering the timing of the report, a "second half of 2018" prediction for manufacturing isn't that significant, as the second half of Apple's fiscal year is upon us on Tuesday, and the half-year mark in two months.
The new model is expected to be priced in line with, or slightly above, the current generation MacBook Air's starting price of $999 for a 128GB-capacity storage model. A more expensive version with double the onboard flash storage could sell for $1,199.
The key feature for the model is a speculated resolution jump for the display, moving from 1,440 by 900 pixels in the current generation to a Retina-level 2,560-by-1,600-pixel LG-produced screen, possibly produced by LG.
Supply chain partners were apparently informed of the slip in production schedule by Apple, according to sources of DigiTimes. The delay pushes back the rumored model's manufacturing to some point later this year, though exactly when is unknown.
It is claimed Apple did not provide an explanation to vendors for why the production timeline changed. Report sources speculate it could have been caused by shortages of some key components for the notebook, such as processors and other chips.
The deferred manufacturing will apparently cause firms in the supply chain to hold on to more components than usual, while related production lines will be underutilized for the immediate future. It is believed vendors will be affected until Apple starts accepting shipments again, which sources suggest could occur in the third quarter.
As volume production for the annual iPhone refresh is also expected to ramp up in the third quarter, this may cause an employment issue at later manufacturing stages. Downstream assemblers in China may have to compete against each other to assemble the necessary workforce to produce both the iPhone and MacBook Air.
A lower-cost MacBook Air update has been rumored for a short while, with initial suggestions pointing to a second-quarter 2018 update for the product line. Considering the timing of the report, a "second half of 2018" prediction for manufacturing isn't that significant, as the second half of Apple's fiscal year is upon us on Tuesday, and the half-year mark in two months.
The new model is expected to be priced in line with, or slightly above, the current generation MacBook Air's starting price of $999 for a 128GB-capacity storage model. A more expensive version with double the onboard flash storage could sell for $1,199.
The key feature for the model is a speculated resolution jump for the display, moving from 1,440 by 900 pixels in the current generation to a Retina-level 2,560-by-1,600-pixel LG-produced screen, possibly produced by LG.
Comments
Its very possible...Apple CPU based Mac laptop? Competes in the education sector?
Don't give up hope for some kind of replacement in the short term.
I don't think people should have to buy a MacBook Pro to get some of that, though. Maybe the 16 GB or RAM or *discrete* GPU, but there should be a non-pro machine with a good screen and good-enough GPU.
Hoping? Yes.
Looks like her existing MacBook Pro is going to get even older. WAAAY older, at this pace.
Lately a few things have had me thinking about how committed I am to staying with an all-Apple setup -- loads of software glitches, troublesome iPhones, disappointment in the 4K Apple TV -- so just for giggles I'd like to check how green the grass is on the other side of the fence. Anyone have suggestions of high-quality Wintel laptops you would actually consider buying for yourself?
My son is chomping at the bit to buy his first MBP. He's been saving like crazy and finally has like $2400, which will get him a bottom of the line 13" MBP, refurb. (I think I've convinced him to hold off until June to see if we get some better replacements.)
And, yes, any MBP I'd consider currently would be ~$3k+. I'm not willing to spend that much on a machine with all the problems of the current models, and hesitant to buy a 2015 w/o TB3. So, I'm getting a desktop (if Apple had something good there) and/or waiting until June as well to see what happens. It's the first time I've ever not known what Apple product to buy, if not had a list of models I wanted.
re: grass greener - The big problem - at least from my perspective - is the whole eco-system and then certain pieces of software. For others, the OS would also heavily factor in (or at least more heavily than for me). Since I have an IT background and spent a lot of my career on Windows, I know I could put up with it. But, making a whole eco-system swap isn't so easy, and I'd have to give up a few key apps I enjoy.
As for laptops, I'd suggest the Dell XPS series, as I've heard great things about them from friends and general industry buzz. I think there is also some nice stuff in some of the speciality systems, but they tend more towards gamers. My wife has a pretty nice 'surface-like' machine she got from work, and I can't recall the brand right now. She like it quite a bit, but it wouldn't a 15" MBP replacement... more of a MacBook/Surface competitor.
Oh, and Macxpress is absolutely right about the Apple refurbs. You'll save a couple hundred dollars (or more) and I've actually found them to be more reliable than new (based on a rather limited sample size, admittedly).
lenovo yogo 920
lenovo Thinkpad x1 carbon.
Dell xps, but the camera placement is a fail. None of the above have as good a trackpad as a Mac laptop, but otherwise....
The laptop/tablet my wife recently got from work is a Lenovo Miix 520, so it's a bit better than a current MBA and seems to cost a bit more as well (though I don't know the pricing of her particular model). It seems very well built, though not as 'clean' of design as Apple's. That said, my wife likes it enough (she uses Apple at home, and currently uses a 1-yr-old MBA... and Windows at work), that she said she'd buy one like that for home over a MBA (or whatever Apple has) if our household were to switch to PCs.