MacBook Pro 2016 release date, specs news update: Laptop to have Skylake processor; Kaby Lake versions coming next year?

Maria Bernadette Castro Tuesday, October 11, 2016

The Macbook Pro is pictured during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2012 in San Francisco, California. | Reuters/Stephen Lam

The MacBook Pro 2016 is expected to make its long-awaited debut in a matter of weeks. As the launch draws closer, more details about the device are uncovered.

The notebook is not coming with the Intel Kaby Lake and will stick with the Skylake processor due to the timing of its production.

The seventh-generation chipset was not available yet when Apple started working on the MacBook Pro 2016, according to Rhoda Alexander, director of tablet and notebook PCs at IHS Markit Technology.

She claims that production began during the second calendar quarter. "Given the timing of the start of production, inclusion of Kaby Lake chip appears unlikely," Alexander told Forbes.

This is also what WCCFTech has reported a few months back. The publication claims that Kaby Lake-powered MacBook Pros will not be available until next year.

For many, the type of processor under the hood could make or break the MacBook Pro 2016 although either chipset should introduce improvements from the outdated 2012 model of the laptop.

Apple will make massive adjustments on the design of the MacBook Pro 2016. The laptop will be made thinner with color options the same as that of the iPhone, which should include grey, silver and gold.

The new MacBook Pro will also boast an OLED bar, which will display the function keys as opposed to physical ones. A Touch ID fingerprint scanner will be added as well.

The MacBook Pro 2016 will go unchallenged by Microsoft this year as the tech company will not release its very own Microsoft Surface Book 2 this October as many expected.

Although the Redmond-based company will hold an event this month, it will be about its Surface Pro all-in-one personal computer (PC), the first desktop from Microsoft. The Microsoft Surface Book 2 will not see the light of day this year.

Microsoft scheduled the event on Oct. 26, which is the day before Apple is expected to unveil the MacBook Pro 2016 and the rest of its Mac refreshes.