Apple discontinued the 17-inch MacBook Pro years ago. But it might soon have a replacement.
The tech giant is considering launching a 16-inch MacBook Pro this year, IHS Markit analyst Jeff Lin told investors in a recent research note. He said that the device's 16-inch screen would come with a 3,072 x 1,920 pixel resolution and could go into mass production in September, according to Forbes, which earlier reported on the note. It would likely hit store shelves by the end of 2019.
Lin is one of the more accurate Apple analysts. He correctly predicted the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display in 2012 and in 2017 he said that the 10.5-inch iPad Pro was in the works. He focuses mainly on the display market, and has good contacts there, so he might have a line on knowing what Apple has planned.
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But he's not the first to talk about a 16-inch MacBook Pro. Back in April, well-known Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that Apple was indeed working on a 16-inch MacBook Pro with an "all-new design." At the time, there had been some reports that it had been delayed to 2020, but Kuo said that it was still in the works and would be launching in 2019.
But like everything else in Apple's universe, take all of this with the proverbial grain of salt. Apple is notoriously secretive and it's impossible to say for sure what the company might have planned.
