Apple plans fundamental redesign for 15-inch MacBook

Kaby Lake and a big boost in memory planned for 15-inch MacBook

Apple is planning a fundamental redesign of some of its laptops this year, according to KGI Securities' respected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

According to Kuo, the flagship 15-inch MacBook will be designed from the ground-up, rather than simply refreshed with new parts, and will come bearing 32 gigabytes of memory, reversing Apple's policy in recent years of being positively stingy with the amount of memory its computing devices come with.

The 15-inch MacBook, which will go into production in the fourth quarter of 2017 and is, therefore, still almost a year away. It will be "the most significantly redesigned product this year", claims Kuo and is intended as a high-end device that is relatively future-proofed and which is designed with high-end users in mind.

Apple is also planning to adopt microprocessors in Intel's Kaby Lake range for its laptops, following the release of the 14nm CPU at the end of 2016. Kaby Lake parts are intended to be powerful, yet more power efficient.

The release came too late for Apple to incorporate into its most recent laptop refresh in the autumn, which featured Skylake parts. It (unfairly) proved to be something of a disappointment as a result, especially with the rapid appearance this year of Kaby Lake PCs from a variety of different manufacturers.

The rest of the new laptops from Apple will likely have 16GB, Kuo suggested.

Kuo added that, as a result, Apple can expect to see market-share-grabbing sales growth of about 10 per cent, year-on-year as buyers return to upgrade.

But anyone looking to buy a 13-inch Apple MacBook Air this year might be advised to wait, as Kuo expects the company to discount the models as it looks to replace it with the new 13-inch MacBook Pro, featuring the Touch Bar.