BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

13-inch MacBook Pro And New Model Possible In 2018, IHS Markit Suggests

Following
This article is more than 6 years old.

Credit: Apple

Apple could release a new Retina MacBook, according to an IHS analyst, possibly confirming previous supply chain chatter.

Rhoda Alexander, an analyst at IHS Markit, told me Friday that IHS is seeing two different 13.3-inch Retina-class display panels in the pipeline for Apple.*

Both are 13.3-inch panels with 2,560-by-1,600 resolution (aka Retina) but use different technologies. One is oxide-based and other is a-Si, or amorphous silicon. Displays using a-Si are commonly used in laptops. While Oxide is a newer technology for laptops and sometimes -- but not always -- referred to as IGZO, a technology that Sharp uses. Alexander had no comment on the specific oxide technology being used. 

"Based on the planned 13.3-inch panel production there will be two new 13.3-inch units, with the oxide panel almost certainly going to the 13.3-inch MacBook Pro product," Alexander said.

Alexander expects production to start in the third quarter. "Our research indicates panel production won’t start until the third quarter. A June launch is possible but component orders do not appear aligned with that at present," she said.

A report this past week from Digitimes pointed to the cheaper or "entry-level" Retina MacBook getting the a-Si display, which jibes with Alexander's statement. The a-Si display panels for the new Apple laptop "feature the same resolution as Apple's 13.3-inch MacBook Pro at 2,560 by 1,600. LG Display will begin supplying the panel in April with the new MacBook scheduled to enter mass production at the end of May or the beginning of June," DigiTimes said.

It's not clear if a cheaper MacBook Air is part of the plan as stated above. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said earlier this month that he expects Apple to bring out a new MacBook Air with a lower price tag in the second quarter of 2018.  But he offered no more details.

Alexander had no comment on branding.

Oxide TFT tech in current Apple products

Current Apple products that use oxide display tech include the 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K Display. Apple's description of the display says that it uses an "oxide TFT-based panel to deliver vivid display brightness from corner to corner." The iPad Pro display also uses oxide technology, according to an Apple description which says that "oxide TFT delivers incredible color, contrast and clarity." And the 10.5-inch iPad Pro too, according to this description.

IHS Market has also said in the past that it expects Apple to shift to oxide in the MacBook Pro.

Display expert Raymond Soneira of DisplayMate Technologies has said in the past: "The higher the PPI [pixels per inch] and the wider the Color Gamut (like DCI-P3 for the new MacBook Pro) the greater the benefits of IGZO over a-Si, particularly for LCDs."

"LG Display and Sharp have expanded their oxide mobile PC panel shipments aggressively," according to a research note by IHS Markit's David Hsieh last November. Laptops will be increasingly using oxide displays, according to the note.

----

*Apple sometimes changes its mind about products in the pipeline. Sometimes at the last minute. So the data typically gets more reliable the closer to the launch date a product gets.

12-inch Retina MacBook, mid-2017.

Credit: Apple