The MacBook Pro series has not seen a significant improvement since early 2015, but that is all set to change in the upcoming Oct. 27 event held by Apple. The company has sent out invitations, confirming that they are launching a product on the aforementioned date, and the MacBook Pro is expected to be amongst the unveiled laptops.
It was previously reported that Apple CEO Tim Cook stated that the company is not abandoning the MacBook lineup and that fans should wait for an announcement coming soon. It is now widely speculated that Cook is referring to the upcoming Oct. 27 event.
According to Forbes, the laptop will be available in 15-inch and 13-inch models. It will also drop the traditional USB ports and the MagSafe power cord in favor of the USB Type-C port and Thunderbolt for charging and for peripherals like earphones and external microphones.
The laptop is also touted to feature a special OLED touch panel above the keyboard, taking the spot of the traditional function keys. This panel will change depending on the app that is currently active. When on the desktop, the keys may display functions for adjusting brightness or screen resolution, but they will change when running a document app or a game.
BGR reportedly claims that Apple is referring to this new function panel internally as the Dynamic Function Row.
Apple is also expected to launch a new 13-inch MacBook Air with small improvements, but the 11-inch variant may be canceled and may longer be present during the event. The MacBook Air 2016 will likely be thinner and lighter than the 2015 update, although its exact design is yet to be unveiled.
Both laptops are also said to come with Touch ID and 3D Touch integrated on the trackpad. These will come into better use with consumers using OS Sierra and Apple Pay.
