Wedbush analyst Dan Ives thinks overhauled 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros will be among Apple’s announcements at the usually software-focused Worldwide Developers Conference next week.
Recent rumors provide a pretty decent picture of what the new MacBook Pro might look like. The updated laptops supposedly will be a pretty major rethink of the pro-grade, M1-powered notebook Apple introduced last November. Among the changes will be a redesigned chassis, built-in SD card reader and HDMI port, a MagSafe charger and a faster M2 chip. However, the next-gen MacBook Pro supposedly will not come with an LED Touch Bar.
A previous Bloomberg report described the new processors that will power the upgraded MacBook Pros:
“Apple is planning two different chips, codenamed Jade C-Chop and Jade C-Die: both include eight high-performance cores and two energy-efficient cores for a total of 10, but will be offered in either 16 or 32 graphics core variations.
The high-performance cores kick in for more complex jobs, while the energy-efficient cores operate at slower speeds for more basic needs like web browsing, preserving battery life. The new chips differ from the M1’s design, which has four high-performance cores, four energy-efficient cores and eight graphics cores in the current 13-inch MacBook Pro.”
More expectations for WWDC
Ives’ other expectations for WWDC 2021, which kicks off with a keynote at 10 a.m. PST Monday, include iOS 15 (which is a guarantee for the event). He thinks iOS 15 will “be very focused around new device privacy” protections. The new iPhone operating system also will include “various notifications/lock screen changes, and potentially a revamped iMessage” feature set. Ives thinks privacy will be a main focus and theme of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s keynote. Ives says there will (again, as expected) be updates to macOS, watchOS, iPadOS and tvOS.
In addition, he thinks Apple will drop some “breadcrumbs” about future products. This includes the long-awaited Apple Glass headset, expected for summer 2022, and a possible Apple Car in 2024. Ives writes that Apple will have some news or partnership information available this summer. WWDC will help with “laying the groundwork” for some of this.
What are you hoping for from WWDC? Is there a particular announcement you’re looking forward to? And how happy do you think early M1 MacBook Pro customers will feel after their laptops get superseded after just eight months? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
