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Say goodbye to the 15-inch MacBook Pro — the 16-inch model could replace it

Alex Blake
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Macbook Dead Pixels
Image used with permission by copyright holder

How much do you like your 15-inch MacBook Pro? If you’ve got one, it could be one of the last of its kind — as Apple is reportedly going to kill off the 15-inch model soon.

That’s according to a new report from the industry analysts at IHS Markit. Jeff Lin, research and analysis associate director at IHS, explained in a note that the 15-inch MacBook Pro will be totally replaced by the much-rumored 16-inch model that’s been getting pundits and Apple fans in a whirl.

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Quoted in Forbes, Lin said the new 16-inch MacBook Pro would come with the Intel Coffee Lake-H Refresh processors currently used in the 15-inch MacBook Pro. Other reports have suggested this model will have a 3,072 x 1,920 resolution display with thin bezels, and it may also get Apple’s planned scissor switch keyboard that is allegedly in the works.

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IHS Markit has previously reported that the 16-inch MacBook Pro is set for a launch date of September 2019, with Lin saying the device would make its debut provided “there’s no unexpected development issue.”

However, Lin’s latest report seems to cast doubt on that date. That’s because Lin now states the 16-inch MacBook Pro will actually enter into production in September this year. That’s impossibly close to the supposed September launch date, and there’s no way Apple could produce the new MacBook Pro in time.

To us, a September production date suggests a new launch date of spring 2020. Apple often reserves this time frame for MacBook launches in order to give enough breathing room from the September event, which is usually focused on iPhones. In May 2019, for example, Apple updated its MacBook Pro models with 9th-generation Intel processors.

But if Apple has a spring 2020 launch date in mind, the next tidbit from Lin becomes a bit baffling: he believes Apple will cease production of the 15-inch MacBook Pro in November 2019. That would leave Apple relying purely on inventory and back stock — something Tim Cook famously loathes — right on the precipice of the holiday season. That seems downright mad to us — unless Apple breaks with tradition and holds a holiday-time launch for the new MacBook Pro, something it’s never done before.

Yet Lin says in his report that he has received confirmation of the November date from “OEM and panel supplier[s],” adding that he is “pretty sure” the 15-inch model will soon be end-of-life.

Still, whatever the exact date, it seems clear that Apple has something special up its sleeve in the MacBook Pro department. Keep your eyes peeled for more news between now and September.

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Alex Blake
Alex Blake
Computing Writer
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