Ever since they switched from Intel processors to Apple Silicon chips, Apple’s MacBooks have boasted phenomenal battery life. Now, it looks like the new 16-inch and 14-inch MacBook Pro laptops coming this year may increase their battery power even more.
That’s if a new report from DigiTimes (via MacRumors) is to be believed. The outlet claims that the new MacBooks — which it says will launch later this year — will have better displays that are even more power-efficient than the company’s existing MacBooks.
Specifically, DigiTimes cites industry sources who believe that the upcoming laptops will come with “mini-LED backlighting” that could increase display brightness by up to 10% compared to the first-generation specifications.
Interestingly, DigiTimes says that “increasing brightness is not meant to improve picture quality, but to save power and improve battery life.” If the mini-LEDs inside the display are brighter by default, the laptop will need to supply less power to them to achieve the same brightness as current MacBook Pro models. This could potentially extend battery life to even greater heights.
Launch date uncertain
However, there is some uncertainty over one detail in the report. DigiTimes claims that the updated MacBook Pro models will be released in the fourth quarter of 2023, which falls between October 1 and December 31. However, this doesn’t actually match up with the launch date that other experts have predicted.
For example, journalist Mark Gurman has claimed that Apple’s high-end MacBook Pro – that is, the 14-inch and 16-inch versions – probably won’t be updated until mid-2024, while analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also estimated It is estimated that the launch date will be next year. The current models were only refreshed in January 2023, so it would be highly unusual for Apple to upgrade the same laptop twice in the same year (especially considering how expensive these are).
However, just this week, it was reported that Apple would soon update its Mac trade-in program to accept more products, which could be a sign that a new Mac launch is on the way. Yet as we said at the time, it’s not even certain whether this new Mac will be a laptop, let alone one of Apple’s high-end MacBook Pros.
Ultimately, we’ll have to wait to see if DigiTimes is right regarding both the release date and display brightness. However, if this is true about the new screen, we could see Apple’s MacBooks make one of their best features even better.
