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Display Industry Analyst Expresses Skepticism About 12-Inch MacBook Rumor

Last week, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that Apple was considering launching an all-new 12-inch notebook at the end of 2023 or in early 2024. Gurman said it was unclear if the notebook would be a low-end MacBook or a higher-end MacBook Pro.

2016 12 inch macbook feature
In response to the report, Ross Young of Display Supply Chain Consultants has revealed that he is currently "skeptical" about a new 12-inch MacBook.

"We are skeptical on a 12" MacBook at this point," wrote Young, in tweet shared with his Super Followers today. "Apple's strategy for notebooks is currently 13" and larger. Companies in the MacBook Pro display supply chain we talked to are not aware of it."

Gurman and Young are both very reliable sources when it comes to future Apple products, so it is possible that Apple is still in the early stages of developing a new 12-inch MacBook, to the point that the company's supply chain currently has no knowledge of the plans. Apple also routinely prototypes a wide variety of products internally, and it does not always move forward with releasing all of them, as Gurman pointed out.

Young has revealed a wide range of accurate insights into Apple's plans, such as the iPhone 13 Pro's ProMotion display, the sixth-generation iPad mini's 8.3-inch display, the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro's mini-LED displays with ProMotion, the ‌new MacBook Air's slightly larger 13.6-inch display size, and more, so his comments are worth taking seriously, but it's still too early to rule out the possibility of a new 12-inch MacBook.

Apple has released both lower-end and higher-end 12-inch notebooks in the past. At the low end, Apple introduced an ultra-thin 12-inch MacBook that weighed just two pounds in 2015, but the notebook was discontinued in 2019. And at the higher end, Apple offered a 12-inch PowerBook G4 in the mid-2000s, prior to the original MacBook Pro.

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Top Rated Comments

TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️ Avatar
53 months ago
I pick Mr. Ross Young over Mr. Mark Gurman. Agree with a comment above. What we need is a 18" MacBook.

Please introduce iMac color's line up.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
azentropy Avatar
53 months ago

There is a reason it got ditched. Also we want bigger screen real estates. So, no this is not going to happen. Not for a Macbook anyway.
That is one reason, but the bigger reason IMO was poor performance and battery life. Both of those issues are addressed quite nicely with Apple Silicon.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
UltimateSyn Avatar
53 months ago

We're missing a 18", not a 12" in this lineup.
At the low low weight of 6.7 pounds.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
azentropy Avatar
53 months ago
I really thought Apple's first Apple Silicon Mac was going to be a 12" MB and they were going to price it at $999 or less. They surprised me with making the entry MBA @ $999. Now with the MBA going up to $1199 there might be room to bring in back a 12" MB at that price point.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
azentropy Avatar
53 months ago

I see absolutely no reason to get a 12”, I would directly go for a 13” Air. Unless you want an overpriced terminal device, is what comes up in my mind.

Anyways they need to go back to simplifying the line up and ditch terms like Air, Max, SE, Ultra, God etc…
Many people find a sub 2lb notebook capable of running MacOS very enticing.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JPack Avatar
53 months ago
You can feed bad info to find leakers, but you can’t do the same to the supply chain. The LCD makers ask for money upfront to build capacity.

Young +1
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)