Apple Introduces 15-Inch Force Touch MacBook; What's Next For Intel's Broadwell/Skylake Chips?

The long wait is over for the next MacBook Pro refresh. Apple has just introduced a Force Touch-equipped 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display. The new MacBook promises longer battery life and faster discrete graphics -- along with flash storage, more performance capabilities and a Force Touch trackpad.

Amid the promise of a new and upgraded device, Intel's release of its Broadwell chips and upcoming Skylake chips still raise questions about whether Apple will stick with its latest upgrade. Will Haswell -- the code name for Intel's processor microarchitecture -- be enough for Apple?

As Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, explains: “The response to the new MacBook and updated 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display has been amazing, and today we are thrilled to bring the new Force Touch trackpad, faster flash storage and longer battery life to the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display."

A decision to stick with Haswell will not likely hurt Apple, although it may have certain effects on Intel's much awaited higher-end quad-core Broadwell processor. To a certain extent, losing the Apple market may affect Intel’s plans to offer socketed quad-core Broadwell with Iris Pro graphics catering to desktop fanatics.

Apple's move also places pressure on Intel to release the Skylake. Looking at Apple's timeline for the 2013 MacBook Pro edition then releasing Skylake sometime in the third quarter can still qualify for the launching in late 2015 or 2016. At the moment, users cannot expect any increase in the CPU performance of the new MacBook versus the 2014 edition until Apple can include a new set of chipset like Broadwell or Skylake. Apart from the upgraded MacBook, Apple has also released the new 27-inch iMac starting at $1,999 offering Retina 5K display and 14.7 million pixel display.