Apple's Roadmap Laid Out for 2013: New MacBook Pros, iPhones On the Way?

By Vincent Funaro, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, January 17, 2013

KGI Securities analyst Mini-Chi Kuo recently made many predictions regarding Apple's plans on releasing new devices in 2013.

Kuo issued a new report based on his research that outlines his expectations for the year. They include Apple launching a slew of new products in the third quarter. He also expects Apple to update many of its devices that are currently available.

His first prediction involves the iPhone 5S and a revamped iPhone 5 launching around June or July of this year. This new iPhone 5S will be quite similar to the iPhone 5, however, it will feature a faster A7 chip, for better performance, a fingerprint sensor, and camera improvements such as an f2.0 aperture and a smart LED flash. Kuo also supports the idea of a low-cost iPhone launching, which he believes Apple will release with a thicker plastic enclosure that comes in a few different colors.

Kuo also predicts that a new iPad Mini and iPad will be released during Q3 2013. He stated that the new iPad Mini will upgrade to a Retina display and that the full-sized iPad will become slimmer and lighter and also will adopt the thinner side bezels seen on the iPad Mini.

Kuo feels that Apple will discontinue the non-Retina MacBook Pro line and drop the prices on the new Retina models in 2013. He also believes Apple will tweak the design of the MacBook Pro Retina line.

As for the MacBook Air, he doesn't think Apple will implement Retina displays into them. However, he does believe Apple will switch to Intel's Haswell platform and said this same update will be made to the new iMac line.

The fourth-generation iPod Touch will be discontinued and Apple will introduce a scaled-back fifth-generation model with 8GB of storage with no rear camera.

And finally, Kuo predicted a minor update for Apply TV, but offered no details on what it would be exactly.

Kuo is normally a reliable source when it comes to Apple information, so these predictions could be somewhat accurate.