While software is expected to take center stage at Apple’s WWDC keynote this year, a new report claims that we’ll still see some new hardware debut on June 10th in San Francisco. WWDC 2013 tickets sold out in under 3 minutes as excitement among developers boiled over, and all eyes are on iOS 7, which is expected to feature the first major user interface design overhaul iOS has ever seen. We’re not expecting any new iPhones or iPads to debut on stage at WWDC, however. Instead, KGI Securities analyst Ming-chi Kuo reports that Apple will unveil several new MacBook computers at WWDC alongside a new version of OS X that should also be shown off during the show.
In a research note picked up by MacRumors, Ming-chi mirrors an earlier report from Digitimes suggesting that Apple has some new notebooks in store of Q2 debuts, but they will be modest upgrades without any big changes.
According to the analyst, Apple will unveil new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops that are powered by Intel’s latest Haswell processors. The bad news, however, is that the new MacBook Air is not expected to feature an upgraded Retina display, as had previously been reported.
“Contrary to our previous projection, we now think Apple will continue to make the MacBook Pro alongside the MacBook Air and Retina MacBook Pro because the 13” MacBook Pro remains the most popular product in the MacBook line,” Ming-chi wrote. “Also, there is still demand in emerging markets, where Internet penetration isn’t advanced, for optical disk drives.”
According to the report, the new laptops will begin shipping soon after they are unveiled at WWDC 2013.
