Apple has stopped selling the non-Retina 13-inch MacBook Pro from its retails stores, which suggests that the company is planning to phase out the MacBook with a disc drive.
According to an AppleInsider report, a clerk at the company's Austin store said that the store had pulled down the non-Retina MacBook Pro from the shelves about a week ago.
The clerk also said that other Apple retail stores are also pulling down the MacBook Pro from their shelves.
Apple released the 13-inch non-Retina MacBook Pro in June, and the device has not been upgraded ever since. A phaseout of the MacBook Pro model makes sense, as the company may want to upgrade the Retina models of the MacBook Pro in the future.
The 13-inch non-Retina MacBook Pro has a starting price tag of $1,099, which makes it just $200 cheaper than the Retina 13-inch MacBook Pro.
Apart from a superior Retina display, the new 13-inch MacBook Pro is also lighter, more powerful and slimmer than the non-Retina version. Instead of a disc drive, the Retina MacBook Pro comes with flash storage.
Reports suggest that completely phasing out of the non-Retina 13-inch MacBook Pro also makes sense as Apple is planning to launch a new MacBook Pro line toward the end of this year.
The 2016 MacBook Pro is said to lighter and slimmer than the current models. Ming-Chi Kuo, a reliable Apple analyst, suggests that the next line of MacBook Pro machines will come with "OLED display touch bar" instead of the function keys.
The 2016 MacBook Pro may also feature an ultra-shallow keyboard very similar to the one on the 12-inch MacBook, which is Apple's thinnest computer launched in 2015.
Fingerprint scanning is gaining a lot of attention in the mobile device market. Apple's new iPhones and iPads are equipped with a biometric fingerprint authentication technology called Touch ID, which allows easy unlocking of iDevices. Customers can also make payments with Touch ID. Rumors suggest that Apple may deploy Touch ID in the next-gen MacBook Pro.
Reports also point that the refreshed MacBook Pro will also support Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C.
Apple has not revealed any details of the upcoming MacBook Pro. The company has not also announced the reason for pulling down the non-Retina 13-inch MacBook Pro. Apple fans may have to wait longer for the company to confirm the next MacBook Pro and its features. Till then, all rumors regarding Apple's next MacBook Pro machine should be taken with a pinch of salt.
