Here’s your first glimpse of that 16-inch MacBook Pro. Or not.

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beta icon of MacBook Pro
A French blog is reporting this image as proof that Apple is about to roll out a 16-inch MacBook Pro.
Screenshot: MacGeneration

Behold, the rumored 16-inch MacBook Pro. Now, here’s your grain of salt.

A French blog this morning published what it called a rendering for a new Mac laptop that was discovered hidden in a macOS Catalina beta.

Skeptics, from Twitter to tech news sites, quickly tamped down any excitement by pointing out the icon’s similarities to the current 15-inch model.

MacGeneration said a reader alerted the blog to the icons and noted that the borders around the screen are thinner than the current MacBook Pro. Thinner bezels are among the rumored features.

beta icons of MacBook Pro
Are we looking at two different machines?
Screenshot: MacGeneration

Ming-Chi Kuo, a well-respected Apple analyst, was the first to claim earlier this year that Apple was going to produce a 16-inch machine with a new design that includes a keyboard with an improved scissor mechanism.

Some analysts thought we’d see a new MacBook Pro by the end of this year, while some say it has been pushed back to 2020.

So what are we to make of the MacGeneration report? Stephen Warwick, a reporter for iMore was careful, using words like “sketchy” and “alleged.

“Are we indeed looking at the rendering of the mythical 16-inch MacBook Pro, or have we all been duped?” Warwick wrote to end his piece, letting readers decide for themselves.

This isn’t the first icon to get Apple fans excited. Earlier this month, an iOS 13.2 beta hinted at what might be redesigned AirPods, with soft tips that can be changed out rather than the all-plastic form.

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