Apple Developing Thinner MacBook Pro, Apple Watch, and iPhone (macrumors.com) 96
According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple appears ready to embrace a thinner design language with the upcoming MacBook Pro, Apple Watch, and iPhone. MacRumors reports: When the M4 iPad Pro was unveiled last month, Apple touted it as the company's thinnest product ever, and even compared it to the 2012 iPod nano to emphasize its slim dimensions. Writing in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Gurman says that like the iPad Pro, Apple is now focused on delivering the thinnest possible devices across its lineups without compromising on battery life or major new features. Gurman writes that the new iPad Pro is the "beginning of a new class of Apple devices," and that Apple's aim is to offer "the thinnest and lightest products in their categories across the whole tech industry." Apple now reportedly has its sights on making thinner versions of iPhone, Apple Watch, and MacBook Pro over the next couple of years.
Gurman's sources tell him Apple is now focused on developing a significantly skinnier iPhone in time for the iPhone 17 line in 2025, corroborating a May report by The Information. According to the latter report, Apple is planning to launch an all-new thinner iPhone 17 model next year that will allegedly feature a "major redesign" akin to the iPhone X. Gurman previously reported that Apple is planning a complete revamp of the Apple Watch for the device's tenth anniversary, dubbed "Apple Watch X." Since the original Apple Watch was unveiled in 2014 and launched in 2015, Gurman is unsure whether the Apple Watch X will be released in 2024 or 2025. However, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today claimed that this year's upcoming Apple Watch will have a larger screen and thinner design, which sounds like the sort of major overhaul and design signature that Gurman has suggested.
Gurman's sources tell him Apple is now focused on developing a significantly skinnier iPhone in time for the iPhone 17 line in 2025, corroborating a May report by The Information. According to the latter report, Apple is planning to launch an all-new thinner iPhone 17 model next year that will allegedly feature a "major redesign" akin to the iPhone X. Gurman previously reported that Apple is planning a complete revamp of the Apple Watch for the device's tenth anniversary, dubbed "Apple Watch X." Since the original Apple Watch was unveiled in 2014 and launched in 2015, Gurman is unsure whether the Apple Watch X will be released in 2024 or 2025. However, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today claimed that this year's upcoming Apple Watch will have a larger screen and thinner design, which sounds like the sort of major overhaul and design signature that Gurman has suggested.
Just stop already (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Just stop already (Score:4, Insightful)
This. The Macbook Pro is something that is used as a machine in all kinds of situations with all kinds of workloads. It needs to have active cooling for long tasks, be decently rugged as the parent mentions because the MBP is going to be hauled around the world, needs a good amount of connectors (MagSafe, and 4 USB-C are minimum... ideally more, perhaps take a look at the venerable X-JACK which was used for Ethernet and modem ports on PCMCIA cards, as a way to have an Ethernet connector on a thin laptop.)
What should be the place where "thin is in", would be the MBA. Something like the original MacBook Air, 11" model, which fit in an envelope would be extremely useful, especially with a M4 CPU and good heat dissipation. Apple Silicon is well engineered, and even though a M4 CPU may wind up throttling often due to passive cooling, it will work well enough for a daily driver laptop.
Also, don't forget structural integrity. Laptops go through a lot, and a thin laptop may not be able to survive being tossed around in a backpack, which many laptops wind up having done.
One random note: Right now, the MacBook Air is as close as one can get to an ideal student laptop. However, if it were made thinner, it may not be able to withstand college life. If improvements are made, it should be not at the expense of durability, because those laptops need to last a college student through 4-5 years, be able to withstand drunken parties, being tossed around, slung onto desks in classrooms, you name it. Thinner definitely gets a back seat to more durable.
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What should be the place where "thin is in", would be the MBA. Something like the original MacBook Air, 11" model, which fit in an envelope would be extremely useful, especially with a M4 CPU and good heat dissipation. Apple Silicon is well engineered, and even though a M4 CPU may wind up throttling often due to passive cooling, it will work well enough for a daily driver laptop.
I have an M1 Air (which I liked so much, led me to buying an M1 Max MBP)
It doesn't throttle under normal use, ever. Not even close.
Even my M1 Max can run fully passively cooled at full load for ~5 minutes before the fans even start spinning.
I'm not sure how the M2/M3s compare to those, though.
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Total machine power has averaged around 13W except for a 7 minute 56W excursion coinciding with the fan turning on for 1 minute.
The machine being a block of aluminum helps in the passive cooling department.
Ah- I remembe
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The M1s are awesome. I have multiple ones as well. The M2/M3 models generate more heat, thus running into some cooling issues. However, the issues are nowhere near the Intel models I have had which sound like a hovercraft taking off if they have any workload going at all. Definitely nowhere as bad as that. My M1 MBP and Mac Mini, I have yet to hear their fans in normal operation.
Between the better heat output of the ARM CPUs and the longer battery life (My Intel Mac, I'd be seeking power after a couple
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games can fit that bill so it's still not the best for that but the M1 Air also has other issues when it comes to games. Response times on the built-in screen are awful, macOS games library is weak compared to Windows and out of the games that do exist many never got updated to 64-bit let alone native ARM.
Ya- I played around with some games on my Air. It's a terrible experience. Doesn't really bother me, because I have a Wintel laptop for playing games.
My MBP does a better job- better screen, much higher GPU performance- but it's still not really what it's great at.
Also battery life is only so good because the power usage is low, if you manage to get it to throttle the battery gets drained pretty quickly.
100%- the Air has a small battery- ~50Wh. Just a little more than my Steam Deck.
If it didn't have such an efficient workhorse in it, it would be terrible.
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The Macbook Pro is something that is used as a machine in all kinds of situations with all kinds of workloads
Yet they gave it a keyboard that would break and lose keys if it got a toast crumb inside of it, and made it out of a material that easily gets dings and scratches if it is bumped against anything hard. Let's do drop tests onto a dusty floor with a Lenovo Thinkpad and a Macbook and see which one is more useful.
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When was the last time you really *needed* to upgrade your phone or your laptop. Sure some of us are transcoding videos or compiling kernels and the like who never have enough computing power, but mostly new computer sales are driven by old computer failures and *irrational desire*.
You can't ignite irrational desire with a product that looks and feels the same as the old one. It has to be different, even if it is in a way that is not functionally better. Or, particularly on the phone front, very possibly
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You can't ignite irrational desire with a product that looks and feels the same as the old one. It has to be different, even if it is in a way that is not functionally better.
That, right there, is the biggest problem with our world today. The whole economy is predicated on that planet-burning irrational desire, which companies such as Apple feed and nurture and propagandize into being. Mod me down for being off-topic - I don't care, I just had to say it.
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the biggest problem with our world today."
Really? The biggest?
Also, it's pretty hard to innovate without that irrational desire to do something different.
"The advent of crony capitalism was the beginning of an extinction level event--AI is just an accelerant." --Ambigwitty
Ah, now I get where you're coming from. Would you have been happier with no progress, like in the good old days of very gray, Soviet style stagnation?
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But is it overconsumption? Or just preferences you may not personally share or understand?
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I have a feeling I'm gonna "need" a new Snapdragon X Elite based laptop real soon.
Just so I can write some new ARM apps with local AI features on that beast.
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I have a feeling I'm gonna "need" a new Snapdragon X Elite based laptop real soon.
Just so I can write some new ARM apps with local AI features on that beast.
I think you forgot your Sarcasm Tag.
That Qualcomm SoC is about 2 Generations behind the M4, never mind the Pro and Max Variants; which will be in MacBook Pros in a few Months, with the M4 Ultras going into Mac Studios and Mac Pros this Fall. And then the M6 is probably well into THE "D" Part of its R&D Cycle. And the M5 is likely doing Engineering Samples right now. . .
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I don't give a crap about the M* or the absolute best performance, I just wanna try out some cool stuff. Anyway, it's their first processor, give them time to try to catch up.
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I don't give a crap about the M* or the absolute best performance, I just wanna try out some cool stuff. Anyway, it's their first processor, give them time to try to catch up.
Why?
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Cuz it's something new. Obviously.
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Cuz it's something new. Obviously.
But Qualcomm will always lag behind Apple when it comes to ARM.
They haven't caught up to Apple's A-Series in over a Decade. What is different now, other than the "A" is now an "M"?
Apple has more ARM Experience than any other Company still in existence. That's just a fact.
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You are either 9 years old, or you work for Apple. Either way, ignoring you.
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You are either 9 years old, or you work for Apple. Either way, ignoring you.
Neither; but I am exactly right.
Prove me wrong; when has a Qualcomm ARM SoC ever beat an Apple ARM SoC?
I'll wait.
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Re: Just stop already (Score:1)
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Nah, I think you're just a massive douche.
So?
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And for the pro - a privacy screen filter, and camera cover are absolutely mandatory requirements. You can't make the gap so razor thin that it takes Kingston another 2 years to develop a new filter to fit - you need filters to be available right away.
Same probably goes for plastic cases too - if you're asking me to shell out several thousand on a laptop, the least I'm going to do is try to make sure it lasts, and the resale value is as high as possible. Making it too thin risks not allowing cases to clip o
Should be great key travel (Score:2)
It's about time we moved on to measure key travel in micrometers.
Re: Should be great key travel (Score:2)
I've tested the keyboards on current Apple MacBooks and I really haven't liked them. My 2010 MacBook is more like what I'm looking for.
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One out of three (Score:2)
The watch is a chonky boi. Everything else is fine as is. If I was making a list of gripes about current iPhone design, "not thin enough" wouldn't even make the list. In fact, I'd prefer they brought back the concept of a top and bottom bezel and got rid of the stupid pill-shaped hole in the display. We reached peak phone design several generations ago and it's been a game of fashion design over function ever since.
As to the laptop, can't say I've ever seen myself as being the target market for Apple's
Re: One out of three (Score:2)
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I would go even further. I'd rather have a slightly thicker iPhone it it meant a much larger battery inside.
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I would go even further. I'd rather have a slightly thicker iPhone it it meant a much larger battery inside.
And as somebody for whom Face ID doesn't work reliably, and who finds one-handed use of the iPhone to be nearly impossible now because of the over-reliance on gestures for things like getting back to the home screen, I'd rather have an actual home button.
I don't understand why Apple feels the need to take away choice and force everybody to a design that's clearly inferior from a usability perspective just to have a slightly larger screen that pretty much only benefits people who are mostly using their devic
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thiner makes repair harder! (Score:4, Insightful)
thiner makes repair harder!
Re:thiner makes repair harder! (Score:4, Insightful)
Isn't that the point?
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Does anyone believe that hardware corporations (or any other corporations) have their customer's interests anywhere in the list of things to address?
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May well be.
Does anyone believe that hardware corporations (or any other corporations) have their customer's interests anywhere in the list of things to address?
Yes.
Otherwise, Customers Leave; Business Fails.
Idiot.
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Your Bloody AutoIncorrect! (TM) is miscalibrated. The correct spelling is "Realist".
Haven't you watched Apple these last three decades?
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If (number customers attracted by "New! Shiny!") > (number customers lost because dissatisfied)
then business expands;
for all (New! Shiny! not in {fulfils customer needs})
Your Bloody AutoIncorrect! (TM) is miscalibrated. The correct spelling is "Realist".
Haven't you watched Apple these last three decades?
Longer than that: Howabout Four Decades.
Other than at work (which was always fucking Windows crap), I have used Apple Computers Exclusively, starting with my Apple 1 in 1976.
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Isn't that the point?
No.
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thiner makes repair harder!
But it makes the phone easier to bend to fit perfectly with your bottom when in your pants back pocket and this all happens automatically without any user intervention!!
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thiner makes repair harder!
Thicker makes more layers to dig down through when Repairing!
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thiner makes repair harder!
The hardest part of any repair is getting parts. Repair doesn't need to be idiot proof. A service industry exists, and if I can repair a device with an iFixIt repairability score of 1 / 10 then I'm sure you can find someone local to you to do the same. (Don't just snub your nose at those small cornershop electronics stores)
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thiner makes repair harder!
You're saying that like it's unintentional.
This is just a Display Tech Change (Score:5, Insightful)
More than anything else, this simply signals that Apple is about to go all-in with LED Panels of some-type. OLEDs and other LED Panels are naturally quite a bit thinner than LCDs; because no Backlight Layer is Needed.
That's exactly how the new iPad Pro got such a Slim-Down.
And that M4 iPad Pro Display has Stacked LEDs, and still it's significantly thinner than the MicroLED + LCD Panel in the previous Generation!
thinness (Score:3)
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How long before Apple laptops will flex and whobble if you hold them on the side and shake them?
If they did this without breaking it would be a feature that people would actually pay money for.
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already compromising (Score:1, Flamebait)
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They "compromise on battery life" every time they choose not to improve battery life. thinness is not a usable feature. nobody has ever needed to slide an ipad under a closed door to complete their work. But many people have needed to work a long day. Apple is sacrificing a feature that appeals to basically everyone, longer battery life, to a feature that only appeals to those who care about appearances above all else. No wonder apple elitism is so common.
There is something to be said about weight reduction, and the amount of metal in the case does contribute to the weight. For an iPhone, that weight reduction is meaningless. For the MacBook Pro, that weight reduction would be a godsend. It really is way, way, way too heavy.
The problem is, I want the weight reduction, but not the expected reduction in battery life and ports that is likely to come with it. In fact, I want more ports on my Mac laptop. I get really tired of having to plug in Ethernet dongl
Apple perpetually embraces "Thin" (Score:1)
Apple has been embracing thin since the 1990s. Once the first mobile thing was created, that's pretty much the direction that mobile has gone.
I'll also point out that stiffness is related to the cube of the section, so other things being equal a 5% reduction in thickness is a ~15% loss in stiffness.
How about someone develops ... (Score:2)
Intermediate state : "screen" is a projector that (during power-up) detects range and angle to the wall, then uses that as it's "screen"?
Bonus points for secondary projector/ camera combo that produces a projection keyboard and detects finger movements.
Either Apple is working on these already, or they're
But it may not happen. (Score:2)
Reason: the new EU regulation coming in 2027 requiring all portable electronic devices to have easily replaceable battery packs, probably very similar to what Samsung did with the Galaxy SIII cellphone. That change right there could force Apple to make physically thicker iPhones, iPads and MacBook Air/Pro models to accommodate the replaceable battery pack. Apple will try to compensate for this by going to a composite structure case to keep the weight penalty as low as possible.
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EU regulating this stuff is dumb.
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This... but it could actually be some innovation: make the battery part of the CASE and then leverage "compatibility" of the battery to make all the cases proprietary!
More Battery LIfe (Score:2)
I'd really just prefer to keep the dimensions the same and add battery life. But sure okay thinner it is.
This isn't news. (Score:2)
They've been doing this forever now.
Only apple (Score:1)
Apple decision making (Score:1)
Tim Cook: "Can we make them better?"
Engineers: "Not really. Our code is too complex."
Tim: "Then can we make them thinner?"
Engineers: "Eh, probably."
Apple decision making 2.0 (Score:2)
Engineers: "Not really. The world is currently out of ways to improve displays, cameras, battery life and performance in any way that's meaningful to the majority of our customers. We've made devices that are so good the customers are actually happy with our products and love them so much more than the competition. They'll probably wait until their current device breaks before buying a new one."
Tim Cook: "That really sucks. Can we make t
Thinner == more disposable + no one wants thin!!!! (Score:4, Interesting)
Every apple device is thin enough. No one wants a thinner iPhone!!!! No one!!! It doesn't make a difference. Take a mm off...your life won't get better...a phone won't be more convenient to carry if it was a mm thinner....same with the iPad. Consumer LOVE the thicker MacBook pros because they're more robust and useful.
NO ONE WANTS THIN!!!! The iPad is at the perfect thinness....same with the phone...same with the MacBook pro. Maybe there's a market for thin MacBook airs?...for people who don't need a useful laptop?...for the rest of us, we'd much rather add a mm, be charged extra, and have our battery life doubled. All you're doing is reducing battery capacity and making the device more physically fragile...and making your customers less happy...you're just abusing your monopoly, Apple...and sadly the fanbois will defend it and proclaim it as "innovation."
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make it thinner so the battery is smaller, doesn't last as long, fails faster
Citation needed. Not only are devices currently thinner than ever, their batteries last longer than ever both in terms of capacity and in terms of service life. You're entire post is begging a question where the answer is "no".
Every apple device is thin enough. No one wants a thinner iPhone!!!!
For you. Don't pretend you speak for others. We have a term for that: Gaslighting.
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make it thinner so the battery is smaller, doesn't last as long, fails faster
Citation needed. Not only are devices currently thinner than ever, their batteries last longer than ever both in terms of capacity and in terms of service life. You're entire post is begging a question where the answer is "no".
My original iPhone battery was in service for 5 years, and its battery still worked last time I tried it. I haven't had an iPhone since then that didn't cook its battery. I skipped from the original iPhone to the iPhone 5. It had two batteries (one replacement) in three years. My 6s had three in 8 years and needed a fourth (2 to 3 replacements).
The problem is, when you stick a hot CPU inside an external case to protect it because it is too d**n thin to hold in your hand without dropping it all the time,
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I don't want thinner (Score:2)
If anything, I want wider - the ridiculous current dimensions of the iPhone make landscape mode just about useless.
Apple Watch, sure. (Score:2)
Battery life is about to take another hit... (Score:1)
Like every "brave" "innovation" Apple does these days, this purely to reduce costs and increase profits. Whenever they talk about thinness, it's always about those thick, expensive batteries.
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Like every "brave" "innovation" Apple does these days, this purely to reduce costs and increase profits. Whenever they talk about thinness, it's always about those thick, expensive batteries.
All things being equal, a thicker battery will be significantly more expensive; because there is simply more of the Expensive Stuff in a thicker battery.
So, if you don't mind your iPhone's price going up another $100 or so, then you could have your thicker battery.
But then Slashdot would have a Field Day with "Apple Raises Price on New iPhone" handwringing articles, and not one person will give a single shit that there is now 50% more Battery Life.
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Of course I would pay that. Everyone constantly asks for more battery. It's better than being asked to pay more every year for fewer features.
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Of course I would pay that. Everyone constantly asks for more battery. It's better than being asked to pay more every year for fewer features.
But who does that?
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Other than every Mac user?
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Other than every Mac user?
You should start watching Apple Keynotes.
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No thanks, keep the brainwashing to yourself.
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Isn't brainwashing your thing? You love it when you're drinking your own brand of KoolAide.
Non-sequitur. Your facts are Uncoordinated!
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My iPhone has so far never run out of battery. It's just not an issue even after I set it to only charge up to 80%. If it meant even better photos I'd be all in on a bigger camera hump though.
I've run my iPhone Pro 15 down enough to need to charge to get through the day every time I fly across the country. I've run my MacBook Pro down... all of maybe twice in almost three years.
That said, there's another reason for increasing the capacity even beyond the point at which you won't typically run the battery down. Because bigger batteries will last much, much longer before they have to be replaced.
Superficially, one would expect this to be linear in the size of the battery. After all, the lifetim
Thinner? (Score:2)
I don't want a thinner Macbook Pro. Maybe a thinner Macbook Air!
For the Macbook PRO, I want more features. Like more powerful compute, more peripherals, and more "PRO" features.
Leave the amateur cosmetic stuff for the Air.
â¦but is thinner sustainable? (Score:1)
because the world (Score:2)
That's EXACTLY what everyone's been waiting for (Score:1)
thin is in (Score:2)
Thinner my eye. (Score:1)
Apple stay rich serving their target market (Score:2)
Apple know how to serve their target market and make billions ignoring what outsiders might want because outsiders are irrelevant.
They've no need to cater to Slashdotters as this site ceased to be influential long ago by owner choice. Today the "Slashdot effect" is homeopathic.