“Apple has an all-new-design 12-inch MacBook with a high-resolution display, and a new 9.7-inch sixth-generation iPad with an even higher pixel count than the current Retina display, both in the works for next year, according to well-connected insider Ming-Chi Kuo,” Neil Hughes reports for AppleInsider.
“Kuo, an analyst with KGI Securities, revealed on Saturday that Apple has a number of major new products in the works for next year. Most notably, the new 12-inch MacBook will feature what he said is an ‘ultra-slim clamshell form factor,'” Hughes reports. “He expects this new model to offer a marriage between the portability of the 11-inch MacBook Air and the greater productivity offered by the 13-inch model. The display is said to be on par with Apple’s high-resolution MacBook Pro Retina display.”
Hughes reports, “The analyst also revealed that Apple is working on a new sixth-generation iPad with a higher pixel-per-inch count than the existing 9.7-inch iPad with Retina display.”
Read more in the full article here.
If these rumours are true then the mac book air is good news, increasing the retina on iPad will mean new programming for developers but I suppose it’s worth it, because the competition screen I see at shops are below apple retina
Isn’t 12″ too close to 13″ for comfort? Why have a 12″ and 13″ selling side by side? No sense in that at all. It’ll make managing screen sizes, etc, more complex than it already is.
Apple has a 11″, 13″ 15″ and I hope a re-introduced 17″. Each step up in size is separated by 2″. That should be enough to cover the entire MacBook range.
Not 2 inches (quaint though they be), 5cm. Check out the digonals: 10cm iPhone, 20cm iPad, 25 cm iPad, upcoming 30cm iPad and/or MBA.
Apple’s current 11″ MacBook Air actually has an 11.6″ screen. Adding a 12″ makes absolutely no sense at all.
Has it occurred to anyone that Apple no only giveth, but also taketh away? If you really want an 11′ Air, better buy it now.
what’s “ultra retina?”
thought plain ol’ retina was the optical threshold where the eye cannot discern pixels…”ultra retina” will be great news for that niche market: owls.
Maybe they will help the stock price?
Apple needs to simply their MacBook lineup.
I would like to see them scrap all of the current models and do the following:
1) MacBook 12.6″ with Retina
2) MacBook 13.3″ with Retina
3) MacBook 15.4″ with Retina
Consolidate the Air and Pro lines. The 12.6″ will be the more affordable and portable model that replaces the Air. The 13.3″ and 15.4″ will replace the Pro.
If you think 12.6″ and 13.3″ are too close, Apple could release a 14″ model but that is an unusual screen size
Ultra retina? Whats the point if one can not discern the pixels… It would be waste of horsepower.. I do t think that would be apple like.
Not only that, but if Apple is having trouble getting Retina displays due to yields, then why in the world would Apple put in an Ultra Retina display, thereby making it even more difficult to get sufficient yields (and for something which is not supposed to matter to the human eye?).
More analyst crap to get page hits.
Utter nonsense!
Current lineup of Mac portables, best displays available per chassis:
MacBook Air
11.6″ @135ppi; 1366 x 768 (16:9 ratio)
13.3″ @ 128ppi; 1140 x 900 (16:10 ratio)
MacBook Pro Retina
13.3″ @ 227ppi; 2560 x 1600 (16:10 ratio)
15.4″ @ 220ppi; 2880 x 1800 (16:10 ratio)
A rumored “12 inch” display machine would reflect the full dimensions of a display to replace the current 11.6″ (visible) model. Most likely, Apple is simply boosting the pixels per inch from the current 135ppi to something much more with the times.
However, it’s really time that Apple start to develop more consistency. Apple already pushed its desktop displays & its phone displays to a cinematic 16:9 ratio (and rumors hint that the antiquated 4:3 ratio used for iPads will finally also be abandoned this month), but most of its MacBooks still soldier on with the old 16:10 ratio. Standardizing by widening the MacBooks without increasing the height would simplify developers’ lives and perhaps add a sliver of chassis width for the always-demanded improved battery life.
Moreover, it might not be too expensive to do so. Deploying a native 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution across the board wouldn’t exceed the current ~227 ppi “Retina” resolution except on the smallest model, which could either adopt higher resolution or slum it with the current 1366×786 pixel display – or offer both options. In comparison, a Kindle Fire HD offers a 254ppi display; the Asus Nexus 7 offers 323 ppi, and the Sammy Nexus 10 & Galaxy Note offer 300 & 299 ppi respectively.
Thus a it would be wishful thinking for Apple to offer a comprehensive family of MacBook displays such as:
Air 30 cm (11.8″ diagonal, or 5.8″ h x 10.3″ w) @ 248 ppi
Air 35 cm (13.8″ diagonal, or 6.8″ h x 12.0″ w) @ 213 ppi
Pro 40 cm (15.8″ diagonal, or 7.7″ h x 13.7″ w) @ 187 ppi
Pro 45 cm (17.7″ diagonal, or 8.7″ h x 15.4″ w) @ 166 ppi
perhaps the Pro models would continue to offer Retina display options, with double the pixel density resulting in world-class 350+ ppi quality … at a price, of course.
… unfortunately, Apple will more likely stick to whatever pixel density LG decides to make next year, in whatever PC-typical screen dimensions are in most demand. That’s what they’ve done for the last several years.
Apple needs to display leadership and ignore the vociferous crowd that claims they can’t see the advantage of super-high resolutions, and also ignore fanboys who don’t develop software and therefore see no problems when software has to scaling apps between a whole array of different screen ratios, invariably ending with black bars or crappy streches consistent with a horrid MS Windows quality of experience. Play with a Surface RT if you want to see bad screen scaling. Apple needs to do better, not proliferate past ills.
The best laptop i’ve owned was the AL12″ MacBook Pro.
The 11″ is much narrower screen with a considerably smaller screen area than the old 12.1″.
If they are going to make a 12″ they need to get it more like the AL book.
Not sure how “well connected” this guys is going be after spilling the beans…
And I call BS on the ultra retina. What, a 4K iPad ? Maybe if its 15″…