Apple to Release New 13-inch Entry-Level MacBook?

By Edward Leano, Christian Post Contributor Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Apple is about to come out with a new and budget-friendly 13-inch MacBook for the later part of the year, if recent reports are to be believed. A maker of touch-enabled displays is reportedly about to get more orders for LCD displays that will go into a new line of entry-level, mid-sized laptops from Apple for the second half of 2018.

According to the sources of DigiTimes, a manufacturer of mobile displays and touch panels is expecting to get more orders for LCD modules from Apple. The LCMs, or LCD display modules, will be made to order by General Interface Solution (GIS) for the last two quarters of this year, according to sources.

The company has been one of Apple's LCM suppliers for their MacBooks since the last quarter of 2017, the insiders also added. According to the report, it was GIS company chairman Chou Hsien-ying himself who revealed that their company has been sending out LCD displays for Apple notebooks since the last months of 2017.

The contract has been a small but sizable part of the total revenue of GIS for the year, even coming as late as it did. Later on, according to sources, the company is getting ready to ramp up production to about 600,000 LCD display modules a month by the end of 2018.

This displays could go into Apples next line of MacBooks, which will be positioned as entry-level notebooks as a replacement for the current 13-inch MacBook Air. The smaller MacBook air is already considered the cheapest Apple notebook even as it starts at $999, as Mac Rumors note.

Apple is allegedly also planning to go even deeper into the mid-range laptop market with a 12-inch MacBook to replace the MacBook Air. For now, the form factor of the new 13-inch entry-level MacBook is still unknown, although the company is expected to continue producing LCD-based notebooks as it shifts its more premium models toward OLED displays.