Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Retina MacBook Pro 2013 Haswell Refresh, iMac Refresh and iPad 5/iPad mini ...


Aside from forecasting what could be a "delayed" iPhone 5S release date (despite being in line with non-analyst rumors), well-connected KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo provided AppleInsider some other details on Apple's second half 2013 roadmap. According to Kuo, Apple may be refreshing the MacBook Pro with Retina Display early in September, outfitting the notebook with Intel Haswell processors as rumored; early September could also see the debut of the so-called iPad 5, as well as the rumored "iPhone Lite." The bad news, however, is that Apple might not release a new iPad mini in 2014 after all, as production problems have allegedly doomed Apple's hopes of releasing a Retina Display-sporting "iPad mini 2" this year.


Additionally, Kuo's research note says that non-Retina MacBook Pro editions will not be part of the fall 2013 refresh, which may not bode well for legacy device owners. The iMac, on the other hand, will get a 2013 refresh, and may be out by late August, thus making the all-in-one desktop Apple's next major product release, if the rumors are true. Kuo has developed a reputation as an extremely accurate source of Apple reports, as his sources come straight from Apple's Asian supply chain; that might not work for everyone (see: DigiTimes), but Kuo has been right too many times in the past for these rumors to be simply disregarded.


Kuo didn't mention any Retina MacBook Pro specs for the 2013 refresh, aside from the battery-conducive Haswell chipsets, but we can assume that the refreshed laptops will feature the new Mac OS X Mavericks. As a byproduct of the Haswell chips, longer battery life is almost given, and we could see battery life nearly double that of previous versions, just like Intel's new processors allowed 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Airs to increase their battery longevity to nine and 12 hours respectively.


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