“Apple is reportedly considering launching a 14-inch MacBook Air and may start mass production in the near future to fully enter the Asia PC market, according to sources from the upstream supply chain,” Aaron Lee and Joseph Tsai report for DigiTimes.
“Currently, 14-inch panels are the mainstream specification of the Asia notebook market, while consumers in Western countries prefer 15-inch models,” Lee and Tsai report. “In the global market, 14-inch models have an about 20-25% market share, but in Asia, the market share is about 35-40%…”
Read more in the full article here.
It’s DigiTimes. Have they ever made a accurate speculation?
No matter who this rumour comes from, I don’t believe Apple would fragment in that way. What’s the difference between 13.3 and 14 inches?
Precisely. This speculation is incredibly obtuse.
Precisely. Apple doesn’t cave to what’s supposedly “trending” in one area. They set the trend, and others tweak it to try and differentiate themselves from Apple.
Usually done by the sales department, in an attempt to add “selling points”.
The same goes for the iPhone and iPad…
Apple comes up with the size, does thorough design testing, and releases it based on that. A 4 inch phone, 7 inch tablet, 14 inch notebook are all attempts to be different.
Different doesn’t always mean better, but whatever it takes to not come across as an outright knock off I guess.
I hope Tim (almost called him Steve for a moment) remembers history.
Back in the day when Apple had tons of models and sizes out there, this made inventory and distribution a nightmare. Steve came back and sliced it down to the consumer and pro lines we see today
….and the rest is history.
Well put. These rumours are likely from hardware for other manufacturers and not Apple. Maybe even knock offs.
Tim doesn’t need to remember ancient history. His COO background makes him more aware of the inventory and distribution problems than any person on the planet.
Why not just duct tape three Galaxy Notes together?
Imagine the possibilities!
Have you not seen the price of duct tape these days?
Naahhh, just staple ’em together. Makes for a more secure fit to maximize their utility. Yup.
I’m sure this will be discussed at the announcement event in NYC.
Why the incredibly awkward 14 inch model…. Besides, 4 sounds like ‘death’ in Chinese… that’s why the number is bad luck and rarely used on floor buildings, etc.
So… dumb dumb, dumb idea.
I know that the number 4 is considered unlucky in China, but Apple don’t seem to have too many problems selling the iPhone 4 and 4S.