Digitimes on Monday reported that Apple is shifting MacBook Pro production from Quanta to Foxconn in an effort to lower costs and reduce risks. The report indicates Apple is shifting production, as it doesn’t have any major hardware updates planned for 2018.
Digitimes, via 9to5Mac:
The sources revealed that Foxconn had been aggressively working to land more MacBook orders from Apple during the past few years by offering attractive quotes. Since Apple has not had a major upgrade to its MacBook product line since the releases of its new MacBook Pro devices at the end of 2016 and has no plan for one in 2018, the US-based vendor is planning to shift orders for models that are already in mass production to Foxconn to save costs and reduce risks.
The move at this time means supplies of 2017 MacBook pro models should remain strong, even if Foxconn encounters issues while ramping up production of the popular laptop computer.
The report says that Foxconn has represented only 20% of MacBook Pro production with Quanta producing the remaining 80% of orders. Quanta will not lose all of its production orders, but should see its share of MBPro orders reduced to 50% of production.
When Digitimes says there won’t be any “major upgrade” to the MacBook Pro lineup in 2018, it likely is referencing an update to the computer’s chassis. it’s not unusual for Apple to use a chassis design for several generations. The computer last saw an outward redesign in 2016.
“No major update” still leaves wiggle room for internal updates, such as new RAM and CPU options, or an improvement to the laptop’s much-maligned butterfly low-travel keyboard, which some users report keys getting stuck on 2016 and 2017 models.
It should be noted that reports like this – especially from publications with spotty records when it comes to predicting Apple’s moves, such as Digitimes – should be taken with a grain of your favorite low-sodium salt substitute.
