As we’re heard from Apple’s recent quarterly fiscal results, Mac sales are down. Of course, Apple would like to change that, and one analyst thinks that could lead to a new look for the MacBook Pro.
Ming-Chi Kuo posted his thoughts about Apple’s upcoming “Scary Fast” event and that Apple is doing it to boost sales even though production volume is low–“less than 400-500k units in total.” In his most recent post, Kuo said that “Apple attributes the significant decline in MacBook shipments in 2023 mainly to the limited M2 computing power upgrade.” He said that Apple is hoping the M3’s “significant boost in computing power” will jump start MacBook sales.
But if that doesn’t work, Ku thinks that Apple could redesign the MacBook Pro in 2025, as well as introduce “a more affordable MacBook model.” Kuo states that Apple’s goal is to sell 8-10+ million units per year.
It’s unclear how Kuo has come to these conclusions. He doesn’t cite sources, and while he analyzes trends to create a forecast, it’s not clear as to how he would have insight into Apple considering redesign plans or creating a new MacBook model. Once an extremely accurate predictor of Apple’s next moves, he’s become less reliable in recent years.
For instance, before Apple announced its “Scary Fast” event that appears to be Mac focus, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo posted on X that Apple won’t ship M3 MacBook Pros by the end of this year. Kuo, who tracks supply chain and production trends, thought that Apple wouldn’t be able to produce the volume it needs. But then Apple announced its event for this Monday, and he jumped on the M3 MacBook Pro bandwagon, but said that the laptops would be in tight supply.
It’s not totally out of the realm of possibility that Apple would redesign the MacBook Pro, even though the current 14- and 16-inch design was introduced only two years ago. But the current design fixed a lot of what was wrong with the previous design, such as the port configuration and bringing back the Function keys. It seems more likely that Apple would redesign the 13-inch MacBook Pro to match the 14- and 16-inch models than overhaul the entire line.
As for the more affordable MacBook model, DigiTimes reported in September that Apple is working on a Chromebook-like laptop for the education market. Kuo could be piggybacking on that report or he could be talking about a different laptop entirely. He said that “Apple may also consider (but hasn’t decided yet) on such a laptop,” so it sounds like it’s all just talk, either on Apple’s end or on Kuo’s.
