Freshly Redesigned 16″ MacBook Pro and 10.2″ iPad 7 Coming This Year
Credit: Viktor Kadar
Here’s what the report says, along with what this information could mean for Apple’s new iPad and MacBook devices.
The Report
An Economic Daily News report, first spotted by Japan-based Mac Otakara, indicates that Apple’s assembly partners are working on a new iPad (with a 10+ inch display) and the previously rumored 16-inch MacBook Pro.
EDN reports that Taiwanese manufacturer Radiant Opto-Electronics will be the sole supplier of the backlight modules for the new iPad and MacBook Pro, hence the given timeline.
The report goes on to claim that the iPad will begin mass production this month, while the 16-inch MacBook Pro will be mass-produced starting in the fourth quarter of the year.
New iPad Rumors
The new iPad mentioned in the report is likely the previously rumored 10.2-inch entry-level iPad. That rumor came from leaker CoinX, who has an impressively accurate track record of releasing insider information.
CoinX claimed in March that a new 10.2-inch iPad 7 and a non-Pro 10.5-inch iPad are coming this year — just not at the same time. The 10.5-inch iPad mentioned, of course, turned out to be the new iPad Air.
That means that the 10.2-inch iPad is likely to be a direct successor to the current entry-level 9.7-inch iPad.
Other than the fact that it’ll sport a larger display, there are few other known details about the upcoming tablet. Expect incremental updates like a faster processor.
New MacBook Pro Rumors
The rumored 16-inch MacBook Pro was first forecasted by well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo back in February. The analyst said the device would come in an “all-new design” and could feature a display between 16 and 16.5 inches.
Another report in June corroborated Kuo’s prediction and suggests that it could have a resolution of 3072×1920.
It isn’t clear what Apple is doing with its MacBook lineup this year, however. The company has already released incremental updates to the MacBook Pro lineup this year, including a refresh of the aging entry-level model just this week.
Of course, despite the recent refreshes, it’s possible that Apple could also debut a brand new MacBook Pro with a completely overhauled design later this year.
More than that, another recent report suggests that Apple is working on a new scissor-switch mechanism for its MacBook keyboards. That new keyboard could end up in a 2019 MacBook Air (but not the minor update Apple just dropped).
If Apple does indeed release an overhauled MacBook Pro with a 16-inch display this year, there’s a chance that it may also feature the new scissor-switch keyboard.
