MacBook Pro 2016 will sport an OLED touch bar. (Photo : YouTube/Cult of Mac)
As previously tipped, more evidences are surfacing that suggests the MacBook Pro 2016 on release date will represent a major design leap from the past models with the build slimmer and lighter than ever due to the use of new and faster memory chips. The OS X laptop refresh is also touted to unbox with OLED touchpad panel, new reports said.
For its next-generation MacBook Pro, Apple is likely to use Samsung's freshly introduced memory chip technology called NVMe PCIe SSD, BGR reported. The whole package, which includes "48-layer 256-gigabit (Gb) V-NAND flash chips, one 20-nanometer 4GB LPDDR4 mobile DRAM chip and a high-performance Samsung controller," will be jammed in a single ball grid array (BGA) that will deliver increased and faster performance but with significantly reduced footprint.
To put into perspective the read/write capability of Samsung's latest flash memory chip, its maker claimed that copying a Full HD (1080p resolution) movie to the new MacBook Pro will only take six second to complete. BGR also noted that the BGA NVMe SSD size is five times smaller than the existing flash drive that Apple has used with current MBP models.
So with more room to be freed up by the new SSD tech, the rumors that it will be a further trimmed down and lighter MacBook Pro 2016 come launch time are starting to line up. As well-known Apple-focused analyst Ming-chi Kuo has recently predicted, the MBPs this year will represent a significant revamp of the devices in the past four years.
Likewise, Kuo hinted the use of OLED display panel in time for the MacBook Pro 2016 refresh and the latest batch of leaked images gathered by Cult of Mac seems to confirm this claim. One of the published photos showed the MBP keyboard lacking the usual top row function keys, which the blog report said is a solid indicator that in its stead Apple engineers will place the OLED touchpad panel.
"There are a bunch of reasons why adding an OLED touchpad to the MacBook Pro is a great idea ... the main one being the ability to customize those function keys to swap out shortcuts you don't use for ones you will. You could also add shortcuts for specific apps," the report said.
Kuo has indicated in a recent note that Apple will first issue a 13-inch Retina MacBook prior to the actual MacBook Pro 2016 release date, which is pegged between September and October this year packing Intel Skylake chip and a rebranded OS X 10.12 or MacOS with Siri for Mac and iPhone Touch ID unlocking as among the key feature upgrades.
