Kuo: New MacBook Pro and MacBook Air Models With Scissor Keyboards to Launch in Second Quarter

Apple plans to release new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models with scissor keyboards in the second quarter of 2020, according to a new research note today from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, obtained by MacRumors.

Kuo did not comment on the size of the new MacBook Pro, but he is possibly referring to the 14-inch model that he has previously mentioned given that the 16-inch MacBook Pro was only released four months ago. The new 14-inch model would likely replace the 13-inch MacBook Pro, which would be discontinued.

macbook pro 13 inch
Kuo expects the new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models to have various cost optimizations, but he said users will not notice any difference.

The current 13-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air are still equipped with butterfly keyboards that can suffer from issues such as sticky or unresponsive keys after prolonged use, which prompted Apple to initiate a free repair program worldwide in 2018. Apple finally solved this problem by reverting back to a scissor mechanism with the new Magic Keyboard on the 16-inch MacBook Pro, which has proven far more reliable.

Kuo himself offered praise for the 16-inch MacBook Pro, noting that customer response to the notebook has been better than expected.

As for the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, Kuo believes that operations at MacBook-related suppliers will improve significantly starting in late March, paving the way for mass production of the new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models.

If this information proves to be accurate, then Apple's entire notebook lineup should feature scissor keyboards by the end of 2020.

Related Roundup: MacBook Air
Related Forums: MacBook Air, MacBook Pro

Top Rated Comments

MacMediaNet Avatar
54 months ago
Please bring back the MagSafe connector.
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
UnalignedByte Avatar
54 months ago
I hope they finally offer a non-touchbar version of a MacBook Pro. I got a 16-ich one (after switching from from a 2014 13" model). Overall it's great, but I keep 'pressing' the touch bar buttons by mistake all the time. It's driving me nuts.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Justin Cymbal Avatar
54 months ago
Nice to see that Apple is back on a 1 year refresh cycle for both the MacBook Air & MacBook Pro

I'm planning on either getting this 14 inch MBP this summer or possibly waiting until the following summer..
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jseq Avatar
54 months ago
What about iMac? Kuo doesn’t say nothing about new model or refresh! ?
My 2012 27’ needs a replacement!
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dannyyankou Avatar
54 months ago

Nice to see that Apple is back on a 1 year refresh cycle for both the MacBook Air & MacBook Pro

I'm planning on either getting this 14 inch MBP this summer or possibly waiting until the following summer..
MacBook Air and Pro have had refreshes every year, at least spec wise.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
zachdog Avatar
54 months ago
Four. Long. Years. This was one stubborn business decision, Apple. I held off, and my 13” 2015 MBP continues to chug along quite nicely. It’s slower than I’d like, but the keyboard is still flawless. I’ve been waiting for a scissor-style replacement. June, at last!
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7 Amid Rumors of New iPads

Tuesday April 23, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Apple Vision Pro Dual Loop Band Orange Feature 2

Apple Cuts Vision Pro Shipments as Demand Falls 'Sharply Beyond Expectations'

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:44 am PDT by
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri

Apple Releases Open Source AI Models That Run On-Device

Wednesday April 24, 2024 3:39 pm PDT by
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...
iPad And Calculator App Feature

Apple Finally Plans to Release a Calculator App for iPad Later This Year

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:08 am PDT by
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider...
iOS 17 All New Features Thumb

iOS 17.5 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Sunday April 21, 2024 3:00 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 17.5 update for the iPhone includes only a few new user-facing features, but hidden code changes reveal some additional possibilities. Below, we have recapped everything new in the iOS 17.5 and iPadOS 17.5 beta so far. Web Distribution Starting with the second beta of iOS 17.5, eligible developers are able to distribute their iOS apps to iPhone users located in the EU...