Revamped MacBook Air, MacBook Pro Are Scheduled For Release Next Month, Analyst Claims

Earlier rumors about Apple’s new MacBooks claimed that the Cupertino tech giant is prepping to release the refreshes of the Air and Pro laptop lines in October. Now a market analyst is backing this idea, saying that Apple is likely to launch its much-awaited MacBook devices next month.

According to TechnoBuffalo, IHS Markit Technology’s Director of Tablet and Notebook PCs Rhoda Alexander has said that Apple is launching more goodies this year. The analyst also claimed that for the month of October, Apple is releasing its revamped MacBook Air and MacBook Pro.

Despite corroborating previous reports, Alexander did not provide the specifics about the imminent release of the new laptops. This just then leads everyone back to Bloomberg’s report in late August that Apple is refreshing its Mac hardware lineup this year, including the Air and Pro series.

Bloomberg learned from sources with insider information on Apple’s plans that the MacBook Air is getting updated with multi-functional USB-C ports, while the MacBook Pro is going on a diet to achieve a thinner form factor to complement its flatter keyboard. The next Pro iteration is also speculated to feature a digital function key display as part of its keyboard.

Another thing that is highly anticipated by Apple fans is the major processor upgrade from the relatively dated Haswell processor found inside the 2015, 2014 and even the 2013 iterations of the MacBook Pro, as per Gizmodo. Previous rumors indicated that the tech giant is looking into using Kaby Lake processors for its new Mac laptops.

Though Apple has yet to confirm the inclusion of Kaby Lake processor in its upcoming laptops, Alexander is claiming that Intel’s latest chips are going to be part of Apple’s MacBooks though both the chips and the new MacBook devices entered production during the second quarter.

While there is no established proof to confirm that Apple is releasing the new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air in October, TechnoBuffalo states invites from the Cupertino giant should be arriving any day now as the month of September is ending soon.

Should the new MacBooks indeed arrive next month, they are expected to debut with macOS Sierra — the latest Mac OS that was officially released last week. As the successor to OS X Yosemite and El Capitan, Sierra brings a lot of new things to the table, like support for Safari-based Apple Pay, remote access using the Auto Unlock feature of the paired Apple Watch device and deeper iCloud integration.