“Ultra-Thin” MacBooks Coming Later This Year: Report

Apple is said to be busy with a full redesign of many of its MacBook’s internal components in order to deliver ultra-thin laptops this year. A Digitimes report posted today may shed light on some of the changes Apple will make: it plans to move to metal injection mold-made (MIM) hinges.

Macbook air

Digitimes’ sources point to Amphenol as a company soon to be joining Apple’s supply chain. The new name is noteworthy as Amphenol is responsible for Microsoft Surface Pro’s hinges because of its special design. As detailed on the firm’s website, it produced parts with over 90% metal density through a metal injection molding (MIM) process, which offers more flexibility in design complexity and also prevents corrosion. MIM process is used in a variety of applications such as mobile phones, laptops as well as industrial and automotive platforms.

Earlier in March, another Digitimes report claimed Apple will ship the next generation ultra-thin 13-inch and 15-inch MacBooks by the end of June. This time, however, Digitimes has been more careful and says the ultra-thin MacBooks will launch in the second half of this year, which doesn’t exclude the WWDC 2016 launch of the new laptops.

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