A KGI Securities analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo, claims that Apple will release updated models of their products this year. The products he talks about are primarily MacBooks based on the new Intel processors, Kaby Lake. As an expert in Apple production, Ming-Chi Kuo believes that the new 12-inch MacBooks with above-mentioned processors will go into mass-production in the second quarter of 2017. He also believes that we should expect models equipped with 16GB RAM. Already today two 12-inch models have 8GB RAM onboard.
According to the further predictions, in the third quarter Kaby Lake processors will be delivered to 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pro models. It is expected that the updated version will be equipped with maximum 16GB RAM due to limitations in the design. However, the analyst predicts one 15-inch MacBook with 32GB RAM. It was demanded for a long time, and finally, it will be delivered somewhere in the second half of this year. As Ming-Chi Kuo says, this will be the model with the most changes. The model is aimed to satisfy numerous existing demands. Judging by the configuration this model must belong to Pro family. However, no statements on this account were made. Apart from this mysterious newcomer, all 2017 updates will have only minimal improvements to their 2016 predecessors. Yes, they will have the faster processors and, possibly, increased amount of RAM, but other than that the devices will stay unchanged.
Overall, it is not a bad time to sell my MacBook and upgrade to something new. The new models will be more energy efficient, which will also affect the production. The updated MacBooks are likely to bring Apple back to 10% annual growth mark. At the same time, the supply is expected to be faster this year, as all the delays affected the last year production were eliminated.