It is end of the road for the non-Retina MacBook Pros while the 2015 13-inch MacBook Air has hit its lowest price at $799.99 in the latest round of killer deals, and these developments somehow indicate that the rumored release date of both the MacBook Pro and Air 2016 is happening real soon. And the long wait is likely to end in matter of weeks.
In a report, Apple Insider said that Apple has started pulling the non-Retina 13-inch MacBook Pro out of sight, disappearing from both the Apple Stores across the United States and the tech giant's online store. The report added that the model has been labeled as outdated and that store clerks have instead recommended the Retina MBPs and MBAs, moves that suggested the non-Retina MacBooks are on the way out.
And the underway phasing out of the 2012 MacBook Pro further fueled the speculations that the 2016 refresh of the line is happening soon even as Apple authorized seller Adorama has again chopped off the 2015 13-inch MacBook Air, now down to $799, according to a separate report by Apple Insider. The unit to ship out boasts of a 1.6GHz processing chip, 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage space. The price off is pegged at $200.
A bigger discount of $270 is in effect too for another 13-inch MacBook Air model with nearly similar specifications but with 8GB of RAM. Adorama's asking price on this is $830 and of note is that all packages come with free shipping and no sales tax provided the destination is outside of New York and New Jersey.
Now for all Mac fans, the old MacBooks either exiting the scene or becoming part of fire sales only point to the one big thing this 2016 - the rumored launch of the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. Initially, analysts said that the MBA will be continued but Japanese blog MacOtakara insisted in a recent blog that the ultraportable will still be mass produced with decent specs bump and likely notable price adjustments. Rollout time is said scheduled no later than August.
The MacBook Pro, on the other hand, is widely believed to see a major leap in the coming months. It will be a revamp that involves the inside and out of the MBP with analyst Ming-chi Kuo predicting that both the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro 2016 will be slimmest and lighter ever in the class, largely thanks to the use of Intel's sixth-generation Skylake processing chip.
On release date, which Kuo said will happen as early as October, the MacBook Pro 2016 will unbox with Touch ID unlocking feature and configurable OLED touch bar and powered by macOS Sierra or the renamed OS X 10.12.