Huge amounts of MacBook Air may be shipped by Apple in September

11th August, 2010 by adina
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A huge ramp in the production of a new MacBook Air is planned by Apple and suggests significantly more mainstream design, according to Keith Bachman, BMO analyst. Investigating the supply chain, two models have been found enroute in September and would ship in much larger numbers than for the current Air. The researcher did not have specifications available, but he estimated that this large volume was a clue for the device costing significantly less compared to the $1,499 Apple requires today.

Although rumors related to a new Air bring few details, it is believed that Apple is considering a reposition of the ultraportable in the mainstream notebook category. Consequently, the size would change from a 13.3-inch display to a smaller 11.6-inch one and would also use the new ultra-low voltage processors Core iX from Intel, which are slower but inexpensive enough to have equipped inexpensive systems such as the Acer TimelineX, priced at only $600 for a system with a Core i3 processor. It is unclear if Apple intends to keep its standard NVIDIA graphics. A licensing dispute between NVIDIA and Intel would prevent using an integrated chipset such as the GeForce 320M with newer processors than Core 2 Duo.

The new MacBook Air, in combination with holiday shipments, will probably bring Apple about 2.9 million notebook shipments during the current summer quarter. Such high figures would make possible over four million Macs sold in a single quarter while new iMac updates would give a boost to Apple’s desktops.

Keith Bachman also said at least two new iPods would arrive in September. One of them would undoubtedly be the fourth-generation of the iPod touch, while the other one would be the largest revision of the iPod nano. It would be a much smaller version than before, without its longstanding click wheel, but Bachman did not say it would have a touchscreen. There were enough changes to doubt the iPod shuffle might continue into its next generation.

Leaks about a very small Apple touchscreen has certainly fuelled speculations that there would be a replacement of the iPod shuffle with a touchscreen device that would play a similar role as the SanDisk Sansa Clip+.


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