Apple is in the news for all the unwanted stuff these days. The Apple iPhone X isn't particularly doing well across the world including India, and the company is rumoured to launch a refreshed MacBook Air this year at the WWDC 2018. However, for some unknown reasons, Apple has now informed its supply chain partners a change in the production of the upcoming MacBook Air. That said, Apple did not inform the reason behind the change in schedule to the supply partners, but now it's unlikely that Apple will unveil the notebook at its Developers Conference in June. Earlier, it was said that Apple is planning to introduce a MacBook Air refresh in the third quarter of 2018 (at its September event) and this report of pushing back the production falls in-line with the same.
"Apple has informed supply chain partners that mass production of its new notebook model for 2018 will not kick off until the second half of the year, yet without explaining the rescheduling move. Some partners speculated that the postponement might be caused by problems with some key components such as processors," a DigiTimes report stated.
Earlier this month, it was rumoured that Apple would introduce a 2018 version of the MacBook Air at the WWDC 2018 event which is set to kickstart on June 4. The planned MacBook Air 2018 is said to be the first Air model to feature a Retina display that will be produced by South Korean electronics company LG. The new MacBook Air will keep the same form factor and said to arrive with upgraded internals.
One of the key highlights of the upcoming MacBook Air will be its price. In the United States, Apple was rumoured to launch the new model at around $899 or even $799 to counter the strong sales of Chromebooks. But this information was given by market observers. In the past couple of years, the sales of Apple MacBooks have come down drastically, and the cheaper price is expected to boost the sales of MacBooks by over 10% in 2018.
The DigiTimes report further claimed that the production of new iPhones would also kick off in the third quarter. Apple might force its EMS plants in China with the additional workforce to meet the sufficient product of 2018 iPhones and MacBook Air devices.
During the upcoming Developers Conference event in June, Apple might announce the much-awaited iPhone SE 2 or iPhone SE (2018) with upgraded internals and design compared to the 2016 iPhone SE. The Cupertino-based company will also announce the iOS 12 Beta version at the event.
