Apple’s Mac business in 2012 will be boosted by Mountain Lion and Ivy Bridge

Apr 23, 2012 08:48 GMT  ·  By

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo with KGI Securities has issued a note to investors signaling the potential discontinuation of Apple’s 17-inch MacBook Pro model, as the company is preparing to introduce a refresh with slimmer designs.

Kuo's estimates on Apple’s Mac business in 2Q12 include a boost by several factors, three of which are OS X Mountain Lion, an impending hardware refresh with Ivy Bridge processors at the forefront, and back-to-school offers.

Obtained by MacRumors, Kuo’s note reads:

“Apple’s Mac business in 2Q12 will be boosted by several factors. Three of which are: (1) Mountain Lion, which integrates iOS features with Mac OS, Apple TV’s interaction function, will be launched in June; (2) upgrading to Ivy Bridge; and (3) back-to-school demand. We forecast Apple will sell 5.32mn units of the Mac series (up 28.5% QoQ and 35.2% YoY) in 2Q12, making it the main growth driver.”

Kuo adds that he and his fellow analysts at KGI Securities predict that “Apple will roll out a fully new MacBook model in early 3Q12, boasting strong performance and easy carryability by combining the advantages of MacBook Air and MacBook Pro.”

Apple has been rumored for quite some time to be refreshing the MacBook Pro line, giving it a sleeker design, which most likely involves eliminating the optical disk drive and platter-based, hard-disk storage solutions.

Finally, the analyst assesses that, “While adding new products, Apple is likely to stop making the 17” MacBook Pro this year due to falling shipments, in order to maintain a lean product line strategy.”

The Cupertino, California-based computer giant run by Tim Cook markets the 17-inch MacBook Pro as “the ultimate mobile studio”.

The laptop is geared towards professional use which means there’s a pretty good chance Kuo is wrong with the last bullet point in his research paper.