Apple has hit up the makers of the ultra-tiny hinges used for the Microsoft Surface Pro to come and work on its next-gen MacBooks, which will launch in the second half of 2016.
It’s worth noting that this is the Surface Pro and not the innovative Surface Book we’re talking about, so don’t necessarily expect the new MacBooks to sport the snakelike “dynamic fulcrum” hinges that make Microsoft’s first ever laptop so unique.
Photo: Microsoft
While the U.S.-based Amphenol does provide hinges to Microsoft for the former product there was no way to confirm whether it also works on the second.
What Apple is interested in is making its MacBook even thinner, using a unique adopt metal injection moulding process to produce the hinges.
Thanks to its new association with Apple, Amphenol will take some component orders away from existing Cupertino suppliers Shin Zu Shing and Jarllytec, according to sources in the supply chain.
There’s no word on exactly when the new MacBooks will ship, although it’s not totally out of the question that we’ll get an announcement around WWDC in June.
Source: Digitimes
