On Monday Apple unveiled its new MacBook. It has a 12-inch Retina Display, a fanless design, an all new keyboard and trackpad all packed into a very thin body that weighs just two pounds. It doesn’t replace any of the existing notebooks in the Air or Pro lineup rather it stands out on its own. However there’s a prediction that Apple’s new MacBook will be off to a slow start in the market. Apple is actually expected to ship less than half a million units of this notebook in the first half of 2015.
The prediction comes from famed Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities. According to Kuo there are several factors that will contribute to slow initial sales of the 12-inch MacBook.
Higher price is named as one factor. Given that this notebook only has the one USB-C port, and no other ports at all, Kuo predicts that might also contribute to slow sales as customers are likely to see this as an inconvenience initially. Supply chain constraints might also play a part.
These are the reasons why Kuo believes that Apple will only be able to ship less than half a million units of the 12-inch MacBook before June 2015. That’s when the Worldwide Developers Conference 2015 takes place and Apple is going to unveil OS 10.11 at the event.
Kuo does say that the new notebook will “prompt the market to refocus on the thin and light form factor design trend,” and it goes without saying that the future appears to be bright for Apple’s new MacBook even if the start is a bit rocky.
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