Apple has invested heavily in focusing their resources for the next generation of mini-LED products that they are planning to roll out in 2020 and 2021 despite the cancellation of their conferences. Production seems to be on schedule regardless of the coronavirus or more known as COVID-19 based on Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
Mini-LED Products to Look Forward To
Apple is now developing a 27-inch iMac Pro, a 16-inch MacBook Pro, a 14.1-inch MacBook Pro, a 12.9-inch iPad Pro, a 10.2-inch iPad, and lastly, a 7.9-inch iPad mini. Kuo only stated that the release will be the fourth quarter this year and the next, which is understandable given that despite what they say about the virus not going to affect the outcome of their product's expected delivery, it is still something significant to think about.
Statements of Apple Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo
"The product research and development for mini LED remain unaffected by the COVID-19. The visibility for commercialization has even exceeded the expectations in our previous report.
The trend for Apple's development and promotion of mini LED are more identifiable in five years. We predict that Apple is currently developing six mini-LED-support products (vs. the previous report of only two products), including a 12.9-inch iPad Pro, a 27-inch iMac Pro in 4Q20, a 14.1-inch MacBook Pro (upgraded from 13.3-inch), a 16-inch MacBook Pro, a 10.2-inch iPad, and a 7.9-inch iPad mini in 2020."
Bold claims from Apple indeed if they intend to keep production in schedule despite what's happening around the globe due to the coronavirus, however, if there is a company that's as dedicated and has the resources to push it from happening, Apple would be one of them.
First of Its Kind
If you're a keen observer and read at the start of the post that Apple is releasing a 14.1-inch MacBook Pro, this is indeed true. The intriguing thing here is that it will be the very of its kind since they usually have bigger screens and are bulkier and never the more compact 14-inch models. Is this something that you'd want to buy? You have to wait and see how much the price is and, of course, if it's worth it at all. Fingers crossed.
Coronavirus Infects the Tech World
Now as lucrative as the tech industry has been, this virus is a plague, and the tech world is not immune to its effects.
Economic losses from the cancellation of major tech events like Google's I/O, Facebook's F8, and the biggest one so far, the Mobile World Congress has already cost companies about $500 million. That doesn't even count the losses of the business that could benefit from an influx of people like hotels, restaurants, transportation, and whatnot. A loss is a loss for everyone, but can you blame them though? Especially with conferences having a rule that it's not good to shake hands anymore, you know, it's all going downhill from there.
The MWC is the most significant loss indeed, with about $480 million since it was supposed to host about 100,000 attendees in the lovely city of Barcelona. After the cancellation of MWC, it initiated a domino effect that seems to keep going up until now. Companies seem to be huddling inside their offices and buildings-some of them considering work-from-home because of the fear of the coronavirus. Again, not their fault, but prevention is always better than cure. However, for the case of the coronavirus, the whole world needs that cure now to resume our regular lives.
