EMERGING TECH
EMERGING TECH
EMERGING TECH
Report: Apple will soon announce a trio of new MacBooks to fend off competition
Apple Inc. will announce three new laptops at its June Worldwide Developers Conference, according to a report published Tuesday by Bloomberg.
Sources familiar with Apple’s plans said the MacBook Pro, MacBook and MacBook Air will each receive updates which will be announced at the conference, which runs June 5-9 in San Jose, California. The Macbook Pro will be getting fitted with Intel’s latest Kaby Lake processor, and it seems that’s about it. The 12-inch MacBook will be getting a faster chip, and the Macbook Air may receive its first update since update since 2015. Improved memory and storage options are in store as well, according to the report.
Perhaps the most surprising of the rumors is that Apple will be updating the Macbook Air, which was last refreshed two years ago. While more expensive, Apple has been trying to plant the seed that the new 13-inch MacBook Pro is the replacement for the Macbook Air. Sales are still strong of the latter likely because of its affordability, not to mention brand loyalty.
Apple faces stiff opposition from various hardware makers, but notably its old foe Microsoft Corp., which has achieved considerable success with its Surface Pro tablets. Recently Microsoft released the Surface Laptop, a critical success for now.
The comparisons between Microsoft’s new laptop and Apple’s Macbooks have been made repeatedly, and the general consensus is that Microsoft is winning. The Surface laptop is a sleek machine with its fast-booting and touch screen, relatively cheap price, and a better processor than its Apple counterpart. The Surface Laptop, it has been said, might just be the laptop that persuades consumers to switch sides.
Apple’s laptops account for only 11 percent of the company’s $216 billion in annual sales, with the iPhone accounting for a great majority of sales. The company obviously doesn’t want to lose customers to competition, and so updates to the laptops should hardly be surprising. However, it seems right now Apple might be playing catch-up, instead of coming out ahead of the curve as it used to do.
WWDC is a developer conference, so it’s also likely that there will also be macOS updates, iOS 11 for the iPhone and tablets, a possible iMessage app for Android, a new version of its WatchOS operating system, TVOS 11 news and more.
Image: Stark via Flickr
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