Filings made with the Eurasian Economic Commission based in Russia are generally a good sign that a new release is imminent. While the filings generally don’t go into too much detail about the upcoming products, they are a good early warning sign that something is coming — which is the reason Apple is making headlines today, for the possible imminent release of a new 13-inch MacBook Pro.
Apple’s filing, which was made a few days before Christmas, is for a yet-to-be-released Mac, described as a portable Mac that runs macOS Catalina. And it carries the model identifier of A2289 in the Eurasian Economic Commission database. One theory is that this refers to a 13-inch MacBook Pro that comes with the same Magic Keyboard with scissor switches that got a redesign last year and was included with the release of a 16-inch MacBook Pro.
This would fit with a prediction from top Apple insider Ming-Chi Kuo that the company would bring its new keyboard design with scissor switches to the 16-inch MacBook Pro which Apple unveiled late last year. And while it looked to be an almost identical copy of the 15-inch model, updates included a brand new Magic Keyboard meant to offer a permanent fix to the sticky keys problem that affected various MacBook, Air, and Pro models released in recent years.
Meanwhile, Kuo also included in the prediction we referenced above his assessment that the MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro would see the Magic Keyboard addition sometime this year.
These filings with the Eurasian Economic Commission have heralded a number of new Apple product releases in the past, such as new iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watch models, so they’re generally worth paying attention to. For encrypted devices, these filings are a legal requirement when the products are intended to be sold in Russia and certain additional countries.
