MacBook Pro 2017 to be Upgraded to Beat Microsoft?
Apple's annual developer conference is set to kick off next week, and the company reportedly plans to announce the update to its laptop lineup that could contend against new competition from Microsoft and make up for the declining iPad sales.
According to Bloomberg, the Cupertino-based tech giant is planning to launch three new laptops. Sources say that the MacBook Pro will be getting a faster Kaby Lake processor from Intel Corp., but Apple is also working on a new version of the 12-inch MacBook with a fast Intel chip. The company has also allegedly considered updating the aging 13-inch MacBook Air with a new processor as sales of the device continue to be strong.
The update MacBook Pro would physically look almost exactly the same as the latest model. However, it will sport a different internal architecture, since Apple has reportedly been working on a new in-house chip for a future MacBook Pro model.
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The current MacBook Pro was released more than 500 days after its predecessor was launched. It featured a Touch Bar keyboard strip, a larger trackpad and a fingerprint log-in sensor.
However, a report by Forbes suggests that there might be disadvantages to launching the new machines on an "off-cycle." If Tim Cook and his team release new MacBooks, those who purchase it might feel buyer's remorse.
If they bought the new MacBook products with the powerful Kaby Lake architecture, then they are going to be faster, more efficient, as well as better equipped in handling high workloads. However, if they bought them because of price and value for money, the new machines will end up depressing both the retail price of the late 2016 models and the price of the devices being sold on the second-hand market.
While it is inevitable that any hardware would get bumped down to lower tier with the arrival of a new model, Apple doing so in such a short period of time is arguably a break in the covenant between consumer and manufacturer.
