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New Laptops Line Up in June 2017
Apple Inc. plans to circulate an update to its laptop lineup at an annual conference for app developers in early June 2017, a move that could help offset new competition from Microsoft Corp. as well as declining iPad sales.
Apple is planning three new laptops. The MacBook Pro will get a faster Kaby Lake processor from Intel Corp., according to insiders who requested anonymity. Apple is also working on a new version of the 12 inches MacBook with a faster Intel chip. The company has also considered updating the ageing 13 inches MacBook Air with a new processor as sales of the laptop, Apple’s cheapest, remain surprisingly strong.
The Mac lineup generates just 11% of Cupertino annual sales with the iPhone accounting for almost two thirds of the total. But Macs are key to retaining the business of loyalists and the creative industries, the cornerstone of Apple’s resurgence at the turn of the millennium under Steve Jobs.
The MacBook refresh would also come at an important time for the iPhone maker. This month, Microsoft Corp. debuted the Surface Laptop which boots up in seconds, has a touch screen and runs on a more stable version of Windows. Microsoft’s first real laptop is widely considered a viable rival to the MacBook Air. By refreshing its computers, Apple could undercut that competition and continue the Mac’s recent momentum.
The planned upgrades wouldn’t mark a major step forward for Apple’s notebook lineup, but they will demonstrate the company’s dedication to a product that has been criticised by the Mac faithful over the past few years. It has been almost seven years since Apple last redesigned the MacBook Air. The most recent MacBook Pro, released more than 500 days after its predecessor, added a Touch Bar keyboard strip for quick access to app functions, a larger trackpad and a fingerprint log in sensor.
Apple last updated the 12 inches MacBook in the spring of 2016 with a rose gold colour option, while the MacBook Air has not received a speed boost since 2015. The stall in Mac updates has not been limited to laptops. Apple’s desktops have lagged too, and earlier this year, Apple pledged to release major upgrades to the Mac Pro and iMac with better specifications for expert users in the future.
In addition to the new Macs this year, Apple will likely announce an upgraded version of the macOS operating system. At last year’s conference, the company announced the Sierra operating system, which added support for Siri, Apple Pay and iMessage improvements.
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