All-Screen M5 MacBook With Foldable Display To Launch in 2026, Analyst Says (9to5mac.com) 36
An anonymous reader shares a report: Apple is working on all-screen foldable devices. Unlike its competitors, however, its focus seems less on foldable smartphones and tablets, and instead on an all-screen foldable laptop. Ming-Chi Kuo has previously reported that Apple was developing a 20.3-inch MacBook device for 2027, but today the analyst has shared several key new details about the futuristic MacBook model. One such detail is that Apple is now eyeing an earlier 2026 launch for the product.
Here are some of the key features Kuo expects to see in the all-screen MacBook:
1. Multiple foldable screen options are still possible, with the rumored 20.3-inch display potentially replaced by an 18.8-inch panel. The former would, when folded, resemble a current 14-15-inch MacBook, while the latter would correspond better to a modern day 13-14-inch model like the smaller MacBook Air.
2. A 2026 debut is now expected for the device, one year earlier than previously reported.
3. The MacBook is expected to receive an M5-series chip, which lines up with the expected timeline of the M4 spreading to the whole Mac lineup by the end of 2025.
4. Apple's goal is to provide a crease-free design for the foldable display.
Here are some of the key features Kuo expects to see in the all-screen MacBook:
1. Multiple foldable screen options are still possible, with the rumored 20.3-inch display potentially replaced by an 18.8-inch panel. The former would, when folded, resemble a current 14-15-inch MacBook, while the latter would correspond better to a modern day 13-14-inch model like the smaller MacBook Air.
2. A 2026 debut is now expected for the device, one year earlier than previously reported.
3. The MacBook is expected to receive an M5-series chip, which lines up with the expected timeline of the M4 spreading to the whole Mac lineup by the end of 2025.
4. Apple's goal is to provide a crease-free design for the foldable display.
I'm excited! We're about to discover... (Score:5, Funny)
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Given how thin and how little key travel their current keyboards have, it might not be very different.
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Given how thin and how little key travel their current keyboards have, it might not be very different.
And also how bloody good Apple is at Haptics. I had my iPhone 8 for several months before I convinced myself that the (non-Moving) "Home" Button really didn't "Snap", like Dome Switch!
IIRC, Apple also had a Patent on a type of Haptics that could make the User Feel "Bumps" (like Buttons) and location-specific Haptic "Snaps" when Contacting a MultiTouch Display...
Maybe This:
https://www.patentlyapple.com/... [patentlyapple.com]
or this:
https://www.imore.com/mac/touc... [imore.com]
which seems the same as this Embodiment:
https://www.macrumors.c [macrumors.com]
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Yep. Sounds like form over function. Who wants to type on an LCD surface? I like the approach MNT took with the Reform laptop and just added both a mechanical keyboard and a beefy trackball. However, it'll look good in ads and someone will want to sport it at the coffee shop, I guess. I'll keep my Thinkpads, thanks.
I'd Love to run Sound/Lights/Multitrack Recording/Multicam Capture (simultaneously?) Live with that Beast! ...I can Dream, can't I?
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That actually does sound cool. I'm just a keyboard snob, that's the real issue.
I've imagined such a Device since about 1980. Glad to see it might actually happen in my lifetime!
And when needed, you can still hookup your Model 50-Style Clicky Keyboard to the same USB Port you would use on any other Device.
Obviously not the best tool for all use-cases; but neither is a Beige Tower with three Monitors and a Clicky Keyboard. . .
Re: I'm excited! We're about to discover... (Score:3)
I think what we're really about to discover is that "analyst" is a resume-grade pseudonym for "professional wishcaster".
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Macintosh is dead. It's Mac now. Mac will be dead and replaced with iOS. No one will compile directly on their devices. It will be uploaded and processed on Apple servers, so they can control what is and isn't acceptable to their economy. Everyone will cheer this as innovation. Buy Apple stock now.
Why wouldn't Apple just write Rulesets into Xcode; no need to burn Apple's Cycles, Power, or Bandwidth!
If you're gonna Troll, at least try to make it Interesting!
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They have written enough code in-house to train their AI.
Who wants rando, guaranteed buggy, probably inefficient code, written by rando, probably inexperienced, possibly stupid "Coders" to set an example?
And before you say "to train it on what not to do, there are far too many ways to make perfectly-buildable, seemingly reasonable, but still completely incorrect Code to just let an AI just indiscriminately plow through it.
Plus, can you imagine the Lawsuits? No Attorney could fashion a Waiver of Rights that
Is this the same Ming-Chi Kuo ... (Score:5, Funny)
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....and yet (Score:3)
They'll still charge you an obscene amount for more than 8 gigs of RAM.
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It's honestly offensive that Apple hasn't increased the base RAM in nearly a decade. For comparison, the base RAM on the first PowerBook started at 2MB in 1992, and had increased 32x to 64MB in 2001. By 2011, it had increased another 32x to 2GB. We should really be looking at 64GB as a starting point these days. Sure, most people don't "need" that much RAM (for some arbitrary definition of "need"), but that's the point -- RAM is cheap and plentiful and it should never be the bottleneck.
To be fair, there
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It's honestly offensive that Apple hasn't increased the base RAM in nearly a decade. For comparison, the base RAM on the first PowerBook started at 2MB in 1992, and had increased 32x to 64MB in 2001. By 2011, it had increased another 32x to 2GB. We should really be looking at 64GB as a starting point these days. Sure, most people don't "need" that much RAM (for some arbitrary definition of "need"), but that's the point -- RAM is cheap and plentiful and it should never be the bottleneck.
To be fair, there are plenty of Windows-based laptops that start at 8GB, and I'm not aware of any that start at 64GB, but just because the entire industry has gotten away with allowing their RAM specs to languish doesn't mean people aren't getting fleeced.
Fortunately we can just buy the MacBook with the least RAM and the smallest SSD and upgrade later. Oh wait...
Pish-Posh!
Both RAM and SSD in Mx-based Macs can be (relatively straightforward-ly) Upgraded; if you are Dedicated (or Desperate) Enough. . .
Certainly not for the average User (of any Computer Platform); but most Users could find someone, like Famous Mac-Hacker DOSDude, who could, and would do it, Successfully. (I have no Affiliation).
Re: ....and yet (Score:4, Interesting)
Do you know why people are willing to pay such an obscene markup?
Because it doesn't matter. Computers are so cheap these days that even an overpriced one is totally affordable, especially since people only need to upgrade every 5-10 years now.
So it's better to pay a bit more and get the exact computer you want, than to save a couple hundred bucks and spend the next 5 years with a machine that you don't like using very much.
That's not even unusual behavior; you can see people paying more than they need to for premium-brand clothes, cars, coffee, etc also, for similar reasons.
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Perhaps, but that is also a compelling reason why it should be included. Putting more RAM on the SoC has got to be a relatively inexpensive additional cost. The markup has always been high, but now it is both obscene and absolutely unjustified -- except when you factor in pure greed.
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Apple controls the life of their machines. Once a machine stops getting OS patches, pretty much it is done for, although there are ways to shoehorn a newer macOS rev onto an older machine, although it can mean security problems, especially if firmware has bugs in it.
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Apple controls the life of their machines. Once a machine stops getting OS patches, pretty much it is done for, although there are ways to shoehorn a newer macOS rev onto an older machine, although it can mean security problems, especially if firmware has bugs in it.
Except, in the case of Intel Macs (Mx Macs are all still fully Supported), it is beyond Trivial (thanks to the tireless work of Others!) to bring any Intel Macn to either the most Recent macOS (Currently "Sonoma"), or within 1 or 2 Major Revisions of same.
Any Intel Mac from around 2016 forward is still fully Supported up to at least macOS Monterey or Ventura (Sonoma -2 an -1, respectively).
So yes, Apple Controls when things become "Legacy"; but the Tail is already Quite Long, and very easy to "stretch" with
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And then they plug their devices together using a $3 cable.
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Do you know why people are willing to pay such an obscene markup?
Because it doesn't matter. Computers are so cheap these days that even an overpriced one is totally affordable, especially since people only need to upgrade every 5-10 years now.
So it's better to pay a bit more and get the exact computer you want, than to save a couple hundred bucks and spend the next 5 years with a machine that you don't like using very much.
That's not even unusual behavior; you can see people paying more than they need to for premium-brand clothes, cars, coffee, etc also, for similar reasons.
LoL no.
That doesn't explain why someone pays 3 times as much for a Mac to get the same computer as they can from another brand.
Fortunately most people see through it. Same with designer clothes or any other product that sells itself based on an image than quality (cars and coffee are bad examples because there are measurable differences between a Dacia and a BMW or Instant and some freshly ground beans)
Apple solders in their RAM and hard drives so people cant do what I did with my £600 Asus,
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That doesn't explain why someone pays 3 times as much for a Mac to get the same computer as they can from another brand.
You're right -- and if Apple computers ran only Windows or Linux like everybody else, there'd be no reason to pay a premium for them.
But people who prefer to use MacOS/X rather than those other OS's are willing to pay a premium for hardware in order to run it, so they do.
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Maybe Apple's metrics show that 8gb is plenty for the base model? The day is going to come when the speed of the SSD approaches that of RAM.
thanks... (Score:2)
Tracking Site (Score:2)
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Ming-Chi Kuo is at place 8 with 72.5%
MacRumors is 2 ahead at 72.7%. TFW you as an "industry insider" are worse at predicting the future than a site with "rumor" in the name.
It would be impressive... but why? (Score:2)
Pulling it off would be a technological feat, especially if it is robust.
However, I have to wonder: what problem does it solve?
When Apple launched the iPhone, it solved a problem: Using the web on your phone was difficult because the screen was tiny. The iPhone solved that problem by removing the keyboard to make the screen big enough and putting a legitimate browser in the phone.
But laptops don't have that problem. People don't have a need today that would be solved by an all-screen laptop. Like the vis
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Pulling it off would be a technological feat, especially if it is robust.
However, I have to wonder: what problem does it solve?
When Apple launched the iPhone, it solved a problem: Using the web on your phone was difficult because the screen was tiny. The iPhone solved that problem by removing the keyboard to make the screen big enough and putting a legitimate browser in the phone.
But laptops don't have that problem. People don't have a need today that would be solved by an all-screen laptop. Like the vision pro, it would be a very cool solution looking for a problem.
If Apple does release this, I am tempted to short-sell their stock.
For one, I suspect that Plenty of Media Creators would Kill for a MultiTouch Mac that Unfolds into a Workspace nearly the size of a TV Tray Table (!!!) (about 15 x 30"), and then folds down into the size of a Spiral Notebook!
No, it's not "for" Coders (but is IS with a BT keyboard!); but is IS "for" a lot of People and Use-Cases.
Plus, it allows Apple to keep the iPad the iPad, and the Mac the Mac (please, please!); which is something that Apple really seems to want to do.
21in laptops (Score:2)
Lenovo and ASUS already there (Score:2)
Lenovo YogaBook 9i [lenovo.com] was first, and the ASUS ZenBook Duo [asus.com] is coming out in 2024. Apple will only be three years late to the party.
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Lenovo YogaBook 9i [lenovo.com] was first, and the ASUS ZenBook Duo [asus.com] is coming out in 2024. Apple will only be three years late to the party.
But, with robust OS and Application and Development Support and a true folding Display (not just two unrelated Touchscreens jammed into a Laptop Case!) Apple's will actually be worth having!
Yeah, and the "keyboard" doesn't even work right, , ,
https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/... [pcmag.com]
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