Apple Phasing Out White MacBook in Favor of Entry-Level MacBook Air?
Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today reported to AppleInsider that Apple may be on the verge of phasing out its white MacBook, the company's longtime entry-level notebook. In particular, Kuo notes that internal shipment forecasts show build plans for the MacBook "suspiciously" tailing off next month with no signs of a replacement.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of Concord Securities shared with AppleInsider Tuesday that industry checks show that Apple's internal shipment forecast for the white MacBook suspiciously drops-off in August of this year, which leads him to believe that the notebook may go "end of life" around the same time.
As noted in our Buyer's Guide, the MacBook hasn't been updated since May 2010, a period of 427 days. With supplies tightening late last month, speculation regarding a potential refresh or a discontinuation began to circulate.
Signs of life sparked again last week when it was claimed that leaked part numbers for an upcoming hardware update included a new MacBook model. That interpretation was incorrect, however, as the part number in question turned out to be for an as-yet unreleased LED Cinema Display with Thunderbolt that leaked on Apple's own site late last week.
Kuo argues that with Apple's MacBook Air line now beginning at the same $999 price point as the MacBook, Apple may feel that it can discontinue the plastic notebook and direct consumers to the thinner and lighter MacBook Air line. Apple's MacBook shipments have reportedly fallen to just 80,000-100,000 per month so far this year, representing less than 10% of Apple's Mac sales.
With Apple rumored to be boosting the MacBook Air to a minimum of 128 GB of solid state storage, even the base model may be sufficient for many users. The MacBook Air does not, however, feature an optical drive, and entry-level consumers who still wish to have optical drive capabilities will have to either take advantage of the Remote Disc capabilities through an optical drive on another computer or purchase an external MacBook Air SuperDrive for an additional $79.
Popular Stories
Apple News is providing Live Activities support for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, allowing iPhone and iPad users to track electoral results in real time directly from their Lock Screen.
The feature is rolling out for U.S. users over the course of Election Day, November 5, providing continuous updates of the electoral count. So if you're interested, you don't need to repeatedly check...
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2 updates to developers, and Apple is continuing to refine the Apple Intelligence capabilities. There are also a handful of smaller features that are worth knowing about.
Find My
Find My has a new option to Share Item Location with an "airline or trusted person" that can help you locate something that you've misplaced....
Apple has started notifying users about an upcoming revision to its iCloud Terms and Conditions, which takes effect on Monday, September 16.
We compared the text of the upcoming iCloud Terms and Conditions with the current U.S. version from September 18, 2023 and identified four key changes:
"Apple ID" references have been changed to "Apple Account" throughout.
iCloud users must agree to ...
Black Friday is still a few weeks away, but you can already find great prices on numerous iPads, including the 9th generation iPad, 10th generation iPad, iPad Air, and iPad mini.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Of course, there is a chance that ...
With the second beta of iOS 18.2 that's available for developers today, Apple has further fleshed out the ChatGPT integration that's available with Siri. In the Settings app, there's now a section that shows the ChatGPT daily limit, and offers an option to upgrade to the paid ChatGPT Plus plan.
The beta includes an Advanced Capabilities section with a "Daily Limit" reading that shows up as...
The first wave of reviews of Apple's new M4-powered MacBook Pro models were published this morning. We've collected some of the latest impressions from YouTube channels and select media outlets below.
Apple last month announced the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, adding next-generation M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max chips, with Thunderbolt 5 ports on higher-end models, display and camera ...
Black Friday is just around the corner, and Apple Watch deals have begun appearing ahead of the shopping holiday on November 29. In this article, we'll take a look at all of the best early Black Friday Apple Watch deals, including the new Series 10 models.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small...