It’s not even been a week since Apple took the wraps off its new MacBook Pro range, and there are already rumors that the company will drop the price and refresh the specs of its flagship laptops next year.
The news comes from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, via 9 to 5 Mac. His report notes that Apple’s new generation of MacBooks usually starts with a high price – something that can definitely be said about the newest machines – with the cost falling a year later. Kuo believes the second half of 2017 will be when the reduction is implemented.
The lack of a 32GB option in the recently unveiled Pros drew criticism from some consumers. Apple executive Phil Schiller said the decision was because of power consumption issues that come from having a lighter, thinner machine.
Kuo speculates that a 32GB option will appear next year, but only if Intel launches the more efficient Cannonlake CPUs with LPDDR4 in time. But even if the new MacBook Pros miss out on Cannonlake, Kuo believes new hardware will arrive in the shape of Coffee Lake CPUs with LPDDR3, which means RAM will continue to be limited to 16GB.
While Kuo’s predictions have mostly proved accurate in the past, some have pointed out that his latest information doesn’t match up with leaked Intel roadmaps. The chipmaker isn’t planning any MacBook Pro-class chips in the Cannonlake family, and Coffee Lake isn’t due to arrive until 2018, leaving Kaby lake as the only option.
https://www.techspot.com/news/66885-ming-chi-kuo-macbook-pro-prices-fall-next.html
