X

Retinafied 13-inch MacBook Pro not a given, but screens on tap

A 13-inch Retina version of the MacBook Pro is not yet a certainty, though production of displays that could be used by Apple is expected to start this quarter.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
See full bio
Brooke Crothers
15.4-inch MacBook Pro Retina. A 13-inch Retina-class display is slated to begin production this quarter.
15.4-inch MacBook Pro Retina. A 13-inch Retina-class display is slated to begin production this quarter. Apple

Displays that could be used on a 13-inch MacBook Pro Retina are slated to begin production this quarter, but "business plans" for Apple are not definite yet, an analyst told CNET.

Retina-class 13.3-inch displays with a pixel density of 2,560-by-1,600 are slated for production this quarter (Q3), said Richard Shim, an analyst with DisplaySearch.

But when this would result in a Retina-endowed 13-inch version of the MacBook Pro is unclear at the moment, according to Shim.

Production of the 13.3-inch Retina-class display is about a quarter behind the Retina screen used in the 15.4-inch MacBook Pro. The PPI (pixels per inch) on the 13-inch display is 227, denser than the 220 PPI of the current 15.4-inch Retina.

Taipei-based Digitimes, which routinely reports chatter from Asia-based suppliers, said Tuesday that Apple is asking its manufacturing partners to begin supplying components for a new 13-inch MacBook Pro model in the third quarter.