Face ID iPad, MacBook, Mac mini, MacBook Pro, 11-inch iPad Pro in Apple's 2018 product lin...
Nearly the entire Apple product line including the iPhone, iPad Pro, first new Mac mini in nearly four years, MacBook, MacBook Pro, iMac, second-generation AirPods, and "Series 4" Apple Watch appear to be on the cusp of release, if Ming-Chi Kuo's latest predictions are accurate.
TF International Securities' Ming-Chi Kuo issued a new report today, spanning the entire width of Apple's product line. In the note seen by AppleInsider, Kuo maintains his predictions about the iPhone lineup as he has for the last several months, plus the analyst expects far more coming.
Both are expected to have "full screen" presumably meaning edge-to-edge, and a "removed button design" once again implying FaceID will be incorporated on the line.
Questionable benchmarks have popped up, showing what alleges to be a six-core MacBook pro with the i7-8750H processor with 32GB of RAM. The MacBook Pro was last updated at the 2017 WWDC.
No other details on a possible Mac mini update were provided. The line was last updated in October 2014, and is overdue for a refresh by every account.
Whether the enlarged screens will afford more internal headroom for additional components is unknown, though Kuo believes the updated models will feature extended on-wrist life thanks to increased battery capacity. Barring a breakthrough in battery technology, enhanced wear time equates to a larger lithium ion cell, again suggesting "Series 4" will sport a larger form factor.
Kuo mentioned enhancements to Apple Watch's built-in health sensors in the past, but still fails to detail what changes Apple has in store for the fourth-generation device. As it stands, Apple Watch incorporates a heart rate monitor, accelerometer, barometer and gyroscope to track a range of biometric data and user movement.
Also repeated is the expectation that new AirPods and the AirPower charging pad would enter mass production in the third calendar quarter of 2018.
There is some speculation that the LCD model will be delayed, due to production yield issues surrounding its touchscreen functionality, but the situation is apparently improving. Bottlenecks in integrating the TrueDepth camera array into the LCD screen are also said to be easing, removing another hurdle that could cause manufacturing delays.
Foxconn will continue to be the main iPhone assembler this year, with it said to handle all 5.8-inch OLED units and 80 to 90 percent of the 6.5-inch OLED version, as well as 30 percent of LCD model orders. Pegatron is identified as taking 60 percent of the LCD orders and between 10 and 15 percent of the 6.5-inch OLED model orders, while Wistron makes up the remainder.
TF International Securities' Ming-Chi Kuo issued a new report today, spanning the entire width of Apple's product line. In the note seen by AppleInsider, Kuo maintains his predictions about the iPhone lineup as he has for the last several months, plus the analyst expects far more coming.
iPad
Kuo is expecting a new 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro refresh. Details are short on both, but the 11-inch model is a notable increase from the 10.5-inch model, and not previously predicted.Both are expected to have "full screen" presumably meaning edge-to-edge, and a "removed button design" once again implying FaceID will be incorporated on the line.
iMac
A new iMac is apparently expected. The new model is predicted to have a "significant display-performance upgrade" in addition to a processor upgrade. It's not clear what the analyst is referring to as far as an upgrade, but a 120Hz refresh rate is a possibility.Apple's laptops
Kuo also predicts a processor upgrade for the MacBook and MacBook Pro. While he initially predicted that the MacBook Air line would see a refresh, the analyst has "changed the previous expectation" and no longer believes that the still-expected low-cost model will be branded accordingly.Questionable benchmarks have popped up, showing what alleges to be a six-core MacBook pro with the i7-8750H processor with 32GB of RAM. The MacBook Pro was last updated at the 2017 WWDC.
Mac mini
Specifically spelled out is an update to the processor for the Mac mini. This is the first time that the analyst has spoken about the Mac mini in any regard.No other details on a possible Mac mini update were provided. The line was last updated in October 2014, and is overdue for a refresh by every account.
Apple Watch and AirPods
Kuo reiterated previous predictions, claiming that the Apple Watch would increase to 40 mm versus 38mm, and 45mm versus 42mm. Both new sizes are expected to have enhanced heart rate detection technologies.Whether the enlarged screens will afford more internal headroom for additional components is unknown, though Kuo believes the updated models will feature extended on-wrist life thanks to increased battery capacity. Barring a breakthrough in battery technology, enhanced wear time equates to a larger lithium ion cell, again suggesting "Series 4" will sport a larger form factor.
Kuo mentioned enhancements to Apple Watch's built-in health sensors in the past, but still fails to detail what changes Apple has in store for the fourth-generation device. As it stands, Apple Watch incorporates a heart rate monitor, accelerometer, barometer and gyroscope to track a range of biometric data and user movement.
Also repeated is the expectation that new AirPods and the AirPower charging pad would enter mass production in the third calendar quarter of 2018.
iPhone
The three iPhone models currently speculated to arrive this fall include two models with OLED screens measuring 6.5 inches and 5.8 inches, while a third is equipped with a 6.1-inch TFT LCD. Most sources now claim that all three will have the TrueDepth camera array and use Face ID, but the LCD model will be singled out as a cost-effective model while the OLED versions will have more premium pricing and specifications.There is some speculation that the LCD model will be delayed, due to production yield issues surrounding its touchscreen functionality, but the situation is apparently improving. Bottlenecks in integrating the TrueDepth camera array into the LCD screen are also said to be easing, removing another hurdle that could cause manufacturing delays.
Foxconn will continue to be the main iPhone assembler this year, with it said to handle all 5.8-inch OLED units and 80 to 90 percent of the 6.5-inch OLED version, as well as 30 percent of LCD model orders. Pegatron is identified as taking 60 percent of the LCD orders and between 10 and 15 percent of the 6.5-inch OLED model orders, while Wistron makes up the remainder.
Comments
As for the low cost MacBook model. Besides the display, my bet is I’ll prefer the existing MBA in pretty much every way. I don’t want to need a hub. I don’t want to lose MagSafe. I find the alu. bezels whimsical and beautiful. I prefer this keyboard. I like a port selection build it. And no other Mac will feature this extraordinary battery life any time soon.
Since Apple already has all of this in the world's best selling smartwatch, I'm not sure they reckon Garmin's worth picking up.
and a 12.9 inch iPad
Mmmm.
Now as to what that Mini might be, a few guesses:
1. It will likely have a discreet GPU. This is needed to accelerate Apples VR and machine learning tech. The potential option here is the new Intel chip with the integrated GPU. An even wilder option would be an AMD APU chip with 8GB of built in HBM.
2. Frankly the Mini is the ideal place to do an Apple designed high performance ARM chip. The reason to do this is again Apples ML and VR tech. Given a a more than 30 watt capacity in the Mini it would be a very interesting chip. People shouldnt undereestimate the importance of Apples AI hardware in its latest A series chips. Apple could easily see that matrix processor as being more important than the ARM cores.
3. This maybe wishful thinking but the Mini needs a balanced selection of ports. That means USB-C but also legacy hardware. My frustration level with Apple will explode if the new Mini ships with nothing but USB-C ports. Oh one more thing those ports must be the latest standards, we dont need a low performance SD slot that only works with 5 year old cards.
4. I know this bothers many but i like soldered in components. In fact conformally coated boards would be nice. The reason of course is that the Mini is ideal for RVs and boats. Soldered in componets are just far more reliable.
5. Hoping for an external power supply again. For one it makes for easy maintenance. The second issue is that alternative power supplies like for mobile described above are then possible. It may sound odd to some but that external supply makes for a far more versatile Mini
6. Two SSD storage slots that are easy to get to. This should not require an explanation.
In sny event six ideas from another Mini day dream.
As for 32GB of memory, this is Apple they will likely screw us over on that one. I hope to be proven wrong on that one but Applle of late has had a terrible attitude when it comes to marketing the Mini. The whole Mini disaster of the last half decade is all about arogant marketing that has Apple implying that they know better than us what we need. Someone at Apple is likely to say that a 32 GB Mini removes to many upsell opportunities. Meanwhile somebody like ME will otherwise say screw it i can buy far better hardware cheaper and run Linux.
Again, in the interest of transparency, letting readers know whether Kuo seeds you with his notes or whether you seek them out and pay for them makes a difference in context. Knowing the context adds value to the data being reported.
If you want a techie tweaker machine, go for it and build your cheaper linux box. Apple has never, ever been about trying to build a commodity box for less than a DIY project of off the shelf parts.