It has not even been a week since the unveiling of the latest MacBook Pro lineup with the Touch Bar and we have already started hearing chatter about price cuts and spec modifications. According to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who is renowned for Apple-focused predictions, the tech behemoth will slash prices for both previous and existing MacBooks in 2017.
In a new report released by Kuo, he sheds light on Apple’s psychology of initially pricing “major-upgraded models” at a heftier price in comparison to the existing lineup. He adds that the company has a tendency to drop prices shortly after launch. Thus, he predicts that the new MacBook Pro will receive a price cut and become more affordable in the second half of 2017. Kuo also believes that the ecosystem of third-party USB Type-C accessories and Touch Bar apps will also become more robust and enticing for users in 2017.
If these predictions come true then this will be one of the easiest solutions to the most annoying problem with the latest MacBook Pro lineup — their extremely high pricing. Many customers and Apple fanboys have already taken to social media to not only rebuke the lacking innovation but also the hefty prices of the latest iterations. Apple has hiked the price of each latest model of the MacBooks Pro by over $500.
But, Kuo didn’t just predict a reduction in sale price. He is also of the opinion that Apple will refresh the MacBook Pro lineup in the second half of 2017 with support for 32GB of RAM. He, however, isn’t confident about the same arriving in mid-2017 because it depends on a processing power boost with Intel’s Cannonlake processors — which need to enter mass production before the announcement.
The new MacBook to be launched in 2H17 may support 32GB DRAM, eventually attracting more core users; this depends on whether or not Intel ships Cannonlake CPU on time in 2017, which features 15-25% less power consumption of LPDDR 4, versus the existing LPDDR 3.
If Cannonlake doesn’t enter mass production as expected, the new models launched in 2H17 will adopt Coffee Lake, which continues to adopt LPDDR 3, and maximum DRAM support will also remain unchanged at 16GB,
reads the official research report by Kuo.
Thus, we would recommend you to delay your Christmas shopping at the moment and be on the lookout for these internal spec improvements and price reductions in the coming year.
