kpom

appex said:

"We started off comparing the SSD speed which was faster and more consistent in the new MacBook".

Which values? 947 MB/s read and 845 MB/s write as reported here?
Apple's updated MacBook is indeed faster with longer battery life
http://www.engadget.com/2016/04/25/apple-macbook-review-2016

But SSD inside MacBook are from Toshiba as reported here:
Retina MacBook 2016 Teardown
Toshiba TH58TFT0DFKLAVF 128 GB MLC NAND Flash (+ 128 GB on the reverse side for a total of 256 GB)
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Retina+MacBook+2016+Teardown/62149

Yet, latest Toshiba catalog (March 2016) does not have such SSD with 947MB/s read and 845MB/s write but half such values (!!!):
http://toshiba.semicon-storage.com/info/docget.jsp?did=13479

In other words, RAID 0 in Toshiba SSD inside MacBook? RAID 0 is not good, because if one disk or the controller fails, all is lost.

Or it could be a custom SSD not in Toshiba's catalog. 

Another question is which model did they test? The m3 is actually a "downgrade" relative to the Core M Broadwell chip Apple used last year (Intel culled the Core M line a bit with Skylake and went to 4 available processors from 7). The turbo boost on the m3 is 200MHz slower than last year's base model. On the m5 and m7, it is 100MHz and 200MHz faster, respectively. So if the Skylake m3 is able to outperform the Broadwell 5Y31 chip that Apple used in last year's base, even slightly, that bodes well for more noticeable improvements in the m5 and m7 models.

Maybe this is a sign that they are going to treat iCloud seriously. Or maybe she's being brought in to help sort out the turf wars between the iCloud and Siri teams.

LTE seems like a surprising addition given that it drains battery, but perhaps Apple has been pleasantly pleased by the Watch's real-world battery performance. After all, if it already lasts the entire day for most people with 30-40% left, there isn't really much incentive to try to stretch it to more (as it would still likely need daily recharging). The Wall Street Journal isn't likely to put out such a rumor if they weren't confident in the source.

Anyway, I'm guessing it is still intended primarily as a companion device, but could gain some "independence." Perhaps this is why they are waiting to release the newer model (get the chip technology right and optimize performance and battery life).

Marvin said:

The processors in these machines came out last year. The Surface Pro 4 got these Skylake chips in October, 6 months ago. It helps retain the resale value of older models I suppose. The performance of these CPUs is ok, this video shows the last model doing 4K video:

It was the same last year. The Broadwell Core M came out 6 months before the MacBook. My guess is that the MacBook is on an annual update cycle for the time being (meaning Kaby Lake will be out this fall and arrive in the MacBook about this time next year). That MacBook will likely still have one USB-C port, probably be upgraded to Thunderbolt 3 (since the capability will be built into the CPU), and probably still have a thread on MacRumors with dozens of pages of people complaining about its shortcomings.