Every year, people are on the edge of their seats about the next big specs and features that will be coming to the iPhone. But Apple's other products aren't to be overlooked - the MacBook Pro 2016 may be due for a major refresh this year.
According to Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst at KGI Securities and easily one of the most accurate of the prophets of Apple products, the Retina MacBook Pros, including MacBook Pro 2016, will be getting a much-needed refresh towards the latter quarter of this year.
He said that the MacBook Pro 2016 would come in 13- and 15-inch variants in vastly thinner and lighter form factors than ever before, a redesign made possible by new metal injection mold-made hinges. These will possibly sourced from US-based company Amphenol, who also made the hinges on the Microsoft Surface Pro 4.
The new MacBook Pro 2016 might also use the "butterfly" keyboard mechanism that was introduced to the 12-inch MacBook, which makes for wider but thinner keys.
Aside from the form factor, Apple engineers are also reportedly working in support for Touch ID to the MacBook Pro 2016, as well as USB Type-C and Thunderbolt 3.
It was also discovered in the new macOS Sierra update that Apple may be bringing an OLED touch panel to the MacBook Pro 2016, which may replace the function keys above the number row. The OLED panel may be contextual, displaying different information and options depending on the application in use.
In terms of specifications, the new MacBook Pro 2016 will feature the latest Intel Skylake mobile processors, likely the quad-core Core i7 parts. It's also possible that Apple will choose to use some of the newer Xeon E3 chips designed for mobile devices.
The MacBook Pro 2016 GPU may potentially be an AMD Polaris part, based on reports that say AMD has won a contract to provide the GPUs for the high-end 15-inch MacBook Pro and the 27-inch iMac. These new parts will have double the performance-per-watt specs as their predecessors.
