A new report today by Digitimes claims Apple is preparing to release a new low-cost 13-inch Retina MacBook which is expected to launch in June, possibly alongside an iPad refresh which could see the company bring Face ID from the iPhone X across to their iPad Pro line.
According to the claims, Apple will begin mass-production of the low-cost 13-inch Retina MacBook at the end of May with a launch planned for June, most likely to be at WWDC which is expected to take place between Monday June 4th and Friday June 8th.
While a specific price point wasn’t given for the new machine, the report noted that the new MacBook hardware will be priced in line with, or slightly above, its MacBook Air laptop, which starts at $999.
Interestingly throughout the report, Digitimes only refers to the new Mac hardware as a “new MacBook”, not a new MacBook Air, going agains what KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said earlier this month when reporting that Apple is planning to launch a new, more affordable 13-inch MacBook Air for launch during the second quarter of 2018.
Digitimes noted within their report that supply chain tipsters have indicated that iPad upgrades will be seen this year, claiming a new 9.7-inch entry-level iPad is set to be released in the second quarter of 2018 and that parts for Apple’s upgraded iPad Pro line have been produced for a launch alongside the low-cost 13-inch Retina MacBook.