14 DAY TRIAL // A Chinese newspaper is dishing out information about the upcoming laptop releases from Apple, Sony, HP and Toshiba, mentioning that a MacBook Air refresh from Apple is expected this June.
Hit-and-miss publication DigiTimes is citing a Chinese-language Apple Daily report as saying that “Taiwan-based notebook ODMs expected ultrabooks to contribute 10% of their shipments in the second quarter as notebook vendors such as Apple, Sony, Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Toshiba are all set to mass produce or launch new ultrabooks in the quarter.”
The report continues, specifically mentioning that “Apple's new MacBook Air reportedly will launch in June.” The sources are unnamed.
Sony's ultrabooks are to ship this month, the paper said, while HP’s and Toshiba’s are set to enter mass production any day now.
DigiTimes is not at its first report citing Chinese sources with alleged inside information regarding Apple’s products refreshes.
In fact, the Taiwanese trade publication churns up these reports on a daily basis, and while sometimes it presents facts with pinpoint accuracy, there are just as many times that the opposite occurs.
With that out of the way, there is good indication the Apple is, in fact, refreshing its notebooks this summer. Whether it’s the MacBook Pro gaining an Air-like design, or the MacBook Air getting Pro-level specs, it’s all going to be geared towards the Ivy Bridge processors coming from Intel.
Howtoarena.com quoted a “reliable tipster” this week as saying that Apple is ramping up production of thinner 15-inch version of the MacBook Pro with Core i5 and Core i7 Ivy Bridge processors. The laptops are said to ship as early as this month.
The same report said the new processors are also making their way inside the company’s all-in-one desktop solution, the iMac. The 2012 models are expected to arrive “in the June-July time frame,” the report said.