Apple’s WWDC 2013 conference is coming up this Summer, and with Apple’s slow pace for hardware releases, so far this year, that likely means Apple will be playing catch up with their product cycles. According to “supply chain sources” speaking to DigiTimes, Apple is preparing to refresh its lineup of MacBooks around the time the event is expected to be held.
Apple MacBook shipments may only see single-digit growth in 2013, as related upstream component suppliers still have not yet seen any major increases in orders, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.
The orders may increase slightly after Apple releases its new MacBook products at the end of the second quarter.
Despite DigiTimes’ spotty track record, this claim actually seems quite likely. Intel’s new Haswell processors are expected to be ready sometime around this Summer (in fact, they’ve already begun shipping the first mobile chips to manufacturers), so it makes sense that Apple would update their popular notebooks around that time as well. While Apple did release a speed-bump and pricing update for both the MacBook Air and the Retina MacBook Pro earlier this year, a Haswell refresh would reflect a more significant update to the MacBook line.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has an excellent track record when it comes to Apple predictions, outlined his expectations for Apple’s 2013 plans for the MacBook lineups in January. He sees the MacBook Pro consolidating into one hardware line, all Retina Display models.
Previous reports have claimed that Apple is preparing a revamped MacBook Air for the third quarter of 2013, which would make the timing right for Apple to announce the update at WWDC, and launch the newly revised MacBooks in stores shortly thereafter. The rumor seems to tell a pretty likely story about how Apple could time their next MacBook refresh, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the claim come to fruition.
