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Apple gets regulatory approval for mystery MacBook

Apple gets regulatory approval for mystery MacBook

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Could it be the next laptop with a Magic Keyboard?

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Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verg

Apple appears to have a new laptop on the way, as the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) has approved a “portable personal computer” from Apple in a filing (via 9to5Mac). Perhaps that new laptop will have the good scissor-switch keyboard from Apple’s new 16-inch MacBook Pro, as every other laptop that Apple sells is still equipped with the company’s less reliable butterfly keys.

According to an image of the EEC approval shared by 9to5Mac, the upcoming “portable personal computer” has a model number of A2289, but those are the only concrete details we can see about it at this point.

Image: 9to5Mac

However, EEC filings have revealed the existence of new Apple products shortly before their release in the past, including the 10.5-inch iPad before it was announced at WWDC 2017, and the 9.7-inch iPad before it was announced in March 2018. And Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported in July that the 16-inch MacBook Pro’s scissor-switch keyboard (which was only a rumor at the time) would come to other Apple laptops in 2020.

So this EEC filing could be a hint that a second MacBook with a better keyboard might be on the way. Since the filing only reveals one MacBook, my guess is that it’s an update to the high-end 13-inch MacBook Pro. That was last refreshed in May 2019, so it could be due for an update soon. There’s also a chance that the laptop approved by the EEC could be a new MacBook Air or entry-level MacBook Pro, but they were last refreshed a bit more recently in July 2019.