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Apple MacBook sales will grow faster than iPhone, iPad in 2018: Report

Apple’s line up of MacBook laptops is expected to grow faster this year, in comparison to the iPhone and iPad.

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Apple’s line up of MacBook laptops is expected to grow faster this year, in comparison to the iPhone and iPad.

According to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the Mac laptop unit shipments will rise between 13-16% in 2018, compared to about 7-10% for iPad and a maximum of 6% for iPhone.

The company is anticipated to introduce a more affordable version of the 13-inch MacBook Air this year as well. According to a report by 9to5mac, Kuo says that he expects Apple to release a new MacBook Air ‘with a lower price tag’ during the second quarter of 2018. The analyst reportedly expects that an affordable MacBook Air will help push MacBook shipments up by 10-15 percent this year.

The trio also includes an upgraded handset the same size as the current iPhone X and a less expensive model with some of the X's key features. The new phones could revive the screen size wars of years past at a time when smartphone makers are straining to come up with new features to lure buyers in a saturated market. Global smartphone sales were down 0.1 percent last year, according to research firm IDC, with Apple and Samsung expanding shipments only 1.9 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.

According to reports, Apple is also preparing to release three new smartphones later this year, including the largest iPhone ever, a device that may have a bigger display than arch-rival Samsung's flagship phone.

Recently, Apple had filed for an unusual patent. The technology giant filed and revealed designs for a new gadget that could turn an iPhone into a MacBook hybrid. The electronic accessory device is considered a "thin" device that extends the functionality of another device but is inoperable by itself as a stand-alone device.

It is said to contain traditional laptop hardware like a large display, physical keyboard, GPU, ports and more, but is incapable of functioning without a host. In this case, an iPhone or iPad would slot into the laptop-esque piece of kit to fill the role of CPU, explains Apple Insider.

The patent offers two different illustrations for how this would work. For phones, there would be a slot on the accessory device instead of a trackpad. On the other hand, the tablets would dock right into the space where a laptop's screen would normally be.

The patent filing stated “The embodiments described herein relate generally to portable computing devices. More particularly, the present embodiments relate to an accessory device that can extend functionality of a portable computing device.” The device will be most likely made out of Aluminum. At the moment, no company has managed to merge a smartphone and laptop.

Just like other patents by the company, this might just be an idea and may never make it to a commercial product.

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