KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is at it again, this time with a report about Apple’s plans to introduce a high-end MacBook Pro before the end of the current calendar year. The generally extremely accurate analyst is suggesting that the new MacBook Pro could be introduced during the fourth quarter of 2016, and ship with a thinner and lighter form factor that would include the addition of technologies that have been previously unseen on a MacBook, such as the integration of a touch-sensitive OLED display bar right above the keyboard.
If you’re in the market for a new MacBook, but want to see what gets introduced later in the year by Apple, then it could be worth holding off and exercising some patience. Ming-Chi Kuo is definitely trying to raise excitement levels for the introduction of this particular new MacBook range, calling it “the most significant upgrade ever undertaken by Apple”.
The new MacBook Pro would be offered in 13 and 15-inch form factors, and in addition to being noticeably thinner and lighter, with a unique OLED display panel bar above the keyboard, it will also come integrated with Touch ID sensor.
While long overlooked, the MacBook line is the brightest spot for Apple’s 2016 rollouts. This is particularly true of the two new MacBook Pro models, to be introduced in 4Q16, as they will have a thinner and lighter form factor, Touch ID, use OLED display touch bar (to replace physical function keys, located above the keyboard) and adopt USB- C / Thunderbolt 3.
The speculated OLED display touch panel would presumably sit above the notebook’s standard keyboard in replacement of the physical function keys that currently allow users to change things like display brightness, output volume and flick seamlessly between playing media on the MacBook.
The addition of Touch ID on the new MacBook Pro models will bring in the ability to authenticate using fingerprints instead of passwords, just like how it has been on iPhones and iPads for a while.
Additionally, the report also says that the 12-inch MacBook model could be accompanied by a new 13-inch model, while the MacBook Air will continue to serve as the entry-level cheaper OS X powered machine.
Suggestions that we could welcome to new MacBook range into our lives by the fourth quarter of this year means that we could likely be officially introduced to the hardware during Apple’s September event, with more information coming in as we close in on that month.
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