Apple is trying to keep its heads above water with the coronavirus outbreak spreading globally like wildfire. The pandemic has already caused delays and but that won't stop the Cupertino company from pushing through with its plans. Manufacturing and production of MacBooks will continue as scheduled and one of the upcoming plans includes unleashing notebook models running on Apple's own processors.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that Apple will be releasing MacBook models running on new custom Arm-based processors, a move that would commence its breakaway from Intel. Ironically, a reason behind this is shipment delays and apparently, the Cupertino company is trying to resolve the situation. But as most know, delays are common for this year due to the COVID-19. But if Apple stays the course and pushes through, the waiting time of trying to recover lost revenue could be whittled down.
The earliest time to potentially see these new MacBooks come out with Apple's own processors would be the last quarter of 2020 according to Kuo, MacRumors reported. Depending on how the handling of the coronavirus goes, this could extend until the first quarter of 2021. The only thing he failed to mention is what models consumers should expect. It could be the MacBook Pro or MacBook Air models or even possibly both. Though he failed to share details, for now, updates could come in the following months.
Other than MacBooks with Apple's own processors coming out, Kuo added that new models sporting an all-new design should be expected. These could come out as early as the second quarter or the third quarter of the year. There was no mention as well by the renowned analyst on whether this will be the Pro or Air models. Looking at the last redesign of both, the MacBook Pro had a new design in 2016 while the MacBook Air models got theirs in 2018. If logic is placed behind the time on redesigning, it makes more sense to expect the MacBook Pro to get a facelift. But of course, Apple could opt for a MacBook Air design if it feels a redesign is needed immediately.
If these redesigned MacBook models do come out earlier, they are likely to still run on Intel processors. But then again, the Cupertino company could pull a fast one and surprise many with their own ARM-based processors. It seems like a long shot but seeing this happen could also be a test to see how well Apple has done building its own CPUs.
