Apple followers are expecting a MacBook Pro refresh coming up this 2018. While it is not certain if the upgrade coming out of the new Mac Pro will be a major design overhaul, similar to the 2016 variant, there are hints that the Cupertino-based tech giant has no plans to introduce a major hardware upgrade this time around.
As reported by DigiTimes, Apple is planning to balance out the MacBook Pro orders coming from its two manufacturers, Quanta and Foxconn. It appears that the tech firm intends to bring down the costs and risks in the production of new Mac Pro laptops, and this is why Apple will shift more orders from Quanta to Foxconn starting this year. Passing down the production of MacBook Pro 2018 to Foxconn would mean that no major hardware update is rolled out.
Quanta Computer has been a long-time MacBook supplier of Apple over the years, although its profit will be affected as the latter will get additional orders from the Taiwan-based Foxconn company this 2018. As of now, Foxconn is assigned for the 20 percent of Apple's total MacBook Pro orders, with the other 80 percent handled by Quanta. Apple's new production plans will still have Quanta in the picture, although it would have to give up 30 percent of the orders to have a balanced share with Foxconn.
While the new MacBook Pro production schedule is good news for both Apple and Foxconn, Mac followers are not expected to get any benefit from this, given that the expectations from the 2018 MacBook Pro version include impressive hardware upgrades. A cheaper and less risk production of Mac Pro laptops for this year would likely mean replicating most of the features and design of the 2016 model, according to MacRumors. Slight adjustments can be done by Apple, like adding an extra 32GB RAM capacity and improving the current Mac Pro's low-travel keyboard, following the complaints about the keys getting stuck easily after pressing them.
Still, Mac fans are hopeful that they will see something new in the MacBook Pro 2018. MacWorld reported that Apple is considering a modular and expandable workstation setup for the future Mac Pro, although the company did not confirm if such design will push through this year. There are also reports that the 2018 MacBook Pro will be powered by the next-generation Intel Core i9 processor, which is capable to run 6-core/12-thread configurations, 45W TDP, and 12 MB of L3 cache, according to BGR.
The MacBook Pro 2018 is expected to launch at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June.
