MacBook Pro may get a swanky screen upgrade later this year

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Antonio takes rumors and makes them into renders. Not pie-in-sky dreams
Would you be excited at the prospect of a redesigned, mini-LED MacBook Pro?
Concept: Antonio De Rosa

Mini-LED screens, branded by Apple as “Liquid Retina XDR” displays, are reportedly coming to MacBook Pro. In a note to clients Friday, seen by Cult of Mac, TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggests that the new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models — featuring Liquid Retina XDR displays and an all-new design — will enter mass production in the third-quarter of 2021.

This contrasts with a May report that claimed the launch of Apple’s mini LED-backlit MacBook series had been postponed to 2022. It’s not clear whether that information was incorrect, or whether Apple and its suppliers have been able to solve whatever problem they may have been facing.

Kuo’s report adds more weight to rumors that mini-LED MacBook Pros are on the way. But it also lends more credence to the growing number of rumors that Apple plans to replace its 13-inch MacBook Pro with a slightly larger model.

Liquid Retina XDR displays offer superior visuals to current LCD screens. While the tech is not quite as good as OLED, it’s certainly a big upgrade.

Big Mac upgrades

Apple’s Mac product line is currently undergoing its biggest overhaul in years. This accompanies the shift from Intel chips to proprietary Apple Silicon.

A previous Bloomberg report on the MacBook Pro shed some light on coming processor upgrades.

“For the new 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.”

Apple’s last MacBook Pro upgrade arrived in November 2020. It was among the first wave of Macs to include Apple’s M1 chip. If mass-manufacturing of the new MacBook takes place in calendar Q3 (read: July through September), that could make an October or November release a likely prospect.

What are you hoping for from the next MacBook Pro? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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