Leaker Claims New 13-inch MacBook Pro Coming as Soon as Next Month
Note: it’s a refresh to the current 13”
So the bigger 14” display upgrade is a big possibility
— Jon Prosser (@jon_prosser) April 4, 2020
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has said Apple plans to release new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models with scissor keyboards in the second quarter of 2020. As predicted, Apple launched its new MacBook Air last month with the new keyboard, so that only leaves the 13-inch MacBook Pro, given that the 16-inch MacBook Pro was released just five months ago.
As noted by Prosser, Apple could launch a new size for its smaller MacBook Pro offering, with any refresh potentially seeing a display bump to a 14-inch screen. Kuo has referred to a 14-inch model in the past, but it’s not clear that this size would feature in any impending refresh. The new 14-inch model would likely replace the 13-inch MacBook Pro, which would be discontinued.
The current 13-inch MacBook Pro still uses 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 solved the problem by reverting back to a scissor mechanism with the new Magic Keyboard on the 16-inch MacBook Pro and 13-inch MacBook Air.
Beyond the keyboard, the new 13-inch MacBook Pro is expected to get an upgraded processor in the form of one of Intel’s 10th-generation Ice Lake chips, built using a 10-nanometer architecture.
Prosser has shared accurate Google leaks in the past, but he has only recently starting sharing Apple rumors, so his track record is limited. If his latest information proves to be accurate, then Apple’s entire notebook lineup will have scissor keyboards by the end of next month.
