Apple MacBooks to get faster Intel Coffee Lake chip 'next year'

Apple's MacBook laptops look set to receive a significant performance boost from Intel's upcoming Coffee Lake processor, MacRumors reports.

Early tests of the new Coffee Lake chip suggest it will be around 30 per cent faster than the current Kaby Lake processors, says Intel, although the chipmaker is staying tight-lipped on the exact performance figures.

MacRumors claims that the Kaby Lake and Coffee Lake processors are very similar in design, which creates "the possibility of a quad-core 13-inch MacBook Pro" powered by Intel's upcoming chip.

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Apple has yet to update its range of MacBooks to accommodate the current Kaby Lake chip, but Bloomberg reports that the company's 12ins laptops will "get a faster Kaby Lake processor from Intel" when it refreshes its line-up in the coming months.

This indicates that Coffee Lake-powered MacBooks will not arrive until "next year", says International Business Times.

Meanwhile, AppleInsider claims the Cupertino-based company will also update its range of iMac desktop computers to house Kaby Lake chips towards the end of the year.

Apple often releases yearly updates for its devices but the firm's range of desktops has not been refreshed since October 2015.

Compared to the desktop's current Sky Lake chips, the site adds that the new processors "will offer marginal performance improvements" and "lower power consumption."

More details about Apple's upcoming products are expected at the Worldwide Developers conferences (WWDC), which runs from 5 to 9 June.

Apple to reveal MacBook refresh at WWDC

17 May

Apple is planning three new laptops as part of a MacBook refresh to be unveiled at next month's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), reports Bloomberg.

Sources told the site the MacBook Pro range will "get a faster Kaby Lake processor from Intel", while an update to the 12ins MacBook is expected to house "a faster Intel chip".

The MacBook Air "could get a faster processor as well", reports The Verge, although there's no mention whether Apple's cheapest laptop will be fitted with a higher resolution screen like the rest of the MacBook range.

The Cupertino company faced criticisms after launching its radical MacBook Pro with Touch Bar last year, with Gismodo saying the decision to fit year-old Intel processors into their new device was "astounding and annoying".

The Verge says "it’s encouraging to see that Apple is taking at least some of the criticism of its latest MacBook Pros to heart and updating the laptop line with Intel’s newest processors".

There's no word of the company's desktop range, which haven't been updated since October 2015, adds MacRumors. Apple's cheapest desktop, the Mac Mini, was last updated at the end of 2014.

However, Phil Schiller, Apple's marketing chief, told TechCrunch the company was "in the process of what we call completely rethinking the Mac Pro".

Although he did not disclose when a new version of the firm's flagship desktop would appear, he confirmed to TechCrunch the final product would "take longer than this year" to develop, meaning it won't appear at next month's conference.

WWDC runs from 5 to 9 June.