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Apple is ‘listening,’ but won’t release a major MacBook Pro upgrade this year

Jon Martindale
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A MacBook Pro sitting on a table.
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Although Apple’s usual hardware refresh of the MacBook Pro line is expected to take place in 2018, a new report suggests that it won’t make any major changes to the platform. This, despite the fact that the chief design officer at Apple, Jony Ive, recently stated that Apple was “listening” to fans’ concerns over various elements of its Mac hardware lines.

Apple’s MacBook Pro laptops are far from poor. In our review of the latest 13-inch model, we found it to look and feel exquisite, with a beautiful screen, loud speakers, and a great touchpad. However, the keyboard was rather disappointing, battery life leaves a lot to be desired, and that Touch bar addition felt pretty redundant. Apple fans have also previously criticized the range for underpowered internal hardware and a lack of ports.

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While the hardware may continue to improve in 2018, it doesn’t seem like this year will see anything in the way of a design overhaul. In a discussion with anonymous sources from the upstream supply chain, DigiTimes discovered that Foxconn will have a greater hand in manufacturing 2018 MacBooks. The report also claims that Apple has no plans for a major upgrade to any of the MacBook or MacBook Pro models in 2018, despite the last refresh happening in 2016.

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One potential change which could come about though is more favorable pricing. Although it would require Apple to pass on the savings, Foxconn is said to be a slightly more affordable manufacturer than its traditional partner, Quanta. Quanta will still manufacture the majority of 2018 MacBooks, but having Foxconn pick up a larger portion of the supply could open up the door for price cuts.

If all of this (lack of) news leaves you a little despondent about your next upgrade, don’t forget that there are many great alternatives to the MacBook Pro out there. We even put together a guide to the best options for traditional MacBook fans, many of them much cheaper and more powerful to boot.

If you had to ask us what our favorite laptops available today are though, the list is slightly different. Have a look at our guide to see the best laptops to buy right now.

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Jon Martindale
Jon Martindale
Computing Coordinator
Jon Martindale is the Evergreen Coordinator for Computing, overseeing a team of writers addressing all the latest how to…
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