Five years ago, Apple made a great transformation on the 2016 MacBook Pro and cut off many interfaces such as USB-A, MagSafe, HDMI, SD card slot, etc., and its functions were all completed by lightning 3 interface. Thus, the design of the appearance is lighter and simpler.
With Apple’s wind vane and industry trends, more and more laptops have adopted the strategy of thin interface configuration. For users who buy new machines, USB-C docking stations are almost the second-largest accessories outside the charger.
However, there is a burst of information that the 2021 MacBook Pro is expected to usher in the return of the HDMI interface and SD card slot. This will also have a significant impact on the market structure and development direction of the entire docking station.
Docking station becomes the light and thin type pen electric power demand
Since Apple canceled various complex interfaces from the 2016 MacBook Pro, in five years, many famous brands such as Dell, Lenovo, HP, Huawei, millet, and LG have launched new products follow-up. To pursue the ultimate light and simplicity, the large-size interface types have disappeared, leaving only 2 to 4 USB-C full-function interfaces.
The design of a simplified interface makes the laptop have a light and thin body, but in response to many use scenarios such as a mouse, keyboard, projector, TV, U disk, network cable, etc., it can not meet the needs independently. It is necessary to use external expansion equipment, so the docking station with a USB-C connector emerges.
At present, the mainstream docking stations on the market can be divided into two forms: one is the USB-C cable and the other is a direct plug-in.
The plug-in docking station is connected with the USB-C interface of the computer when it is used. Also, most products will be made of the metal shell, so it is more integrated and looks beautiful. However, the docking station also has shortboards. On the one hand, it may block the interface brought by the laptop when it is used; on the other hand, it has stronger customized properties and limits its application scope. For example, the docking station designed for the MacBook pro of apple is likely to be unable to use on Huawei notebook due to the interface mismatch.
The docking station with a USB-C cable is relatively easy to plug in and out external devices, and it will not block the interface of the notebook. It is more flexible and convenient to use, which is the mainstream docking station form in the market.
Up to now, Apple has also launched USB-C to VGA multi-port converter, USB-C to SD card reader, USB-C digital audio-visual multi port converter, and other docking station accessories for the MacBook series after the thin interface.
Because docking station accessories are connected to the main equipment through the USB-C interface, Apple does not adopt the mode of developing MFI ecology to carry out relevant certification for such accessories. So even in the past five years, the ecological environment of docking accessories is still not perfect, and the quality of many third-party brands can not be guaranteed.
MacBook Pro 2021 will be standard with an HDMI interface
Recently, industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo released a report saying Apple will launch two MacBook Pro with new designs this year and has made significant changes in design and specifications, one of which is the installation of an SD card slot and HDMI interface.
Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple is planning to launch a new 14 “and 16” MacBook Pro laptop and will make some changes, including a new look, a new MagSafe charging connector with a separate power cord, a touch bar, an Intel CPU version, and mini LED Displays, and more interfaces, enhance the scalability of laptops.
Besides, Ming-Chi Kuo also predicted that the increase of interface will bring more strong demand for machine change, which will drive the sales of MacBook. It is expected that the overall MacBook volume will increase by 25-30% in 2021, and the total annual volume of MacBook will be about 20million units.
What is the HDMI interface?
HDMI high definition multimedia interface is a kind of all digital video and sound transmission interface, which can send uncompressed audio and video signals. HDMI can be used in a set-top box, DVD player, personal computer, TV, game host, integrated expansion machine, digital audio, and television. HDMI can send audio and video signals at the same time. Because the audio and video signals use the same wire, it greatly simplifies the installation difficulty of the system circuit.
Currently, the HDMI Forum has released the 2.1 version of HDMI standard, which can support up to 10K resolution and dynamic HDR, and introduce a new ultra-high-speed HDMI cable, with bandwidth capacity increased to 48Gbps.
Dock market is afraid to shuffle
Apple MacBook has been a tradition of only maintaining USB-C interfaces, which has been selling tens of millions of products from five years ago. Although Apple officially has the corresponding docking accessories, only from the functional integrity and the price of a single product, apple official accessories do not take advantage, leading many consumers to choose more cost-effective third-party accessories.
Although Apple’s product strategy provides favorable conditions for the development of the third-party docking parts market, it has formed a huge industrial chain around the docking station. Many manufacturers such as chip, scheme, PCB, connector, wire rod, and shell have benefited from it.
However, as the main part of the service of the accessory industry chain, Apple has the right to kill the whole industry chain. Once the 2021 MacBook Pro is equipped with an HDMI interface and SD card slot as standard, it will bring a new shuffle to the whole docking market. There are three main aspects:
- Impact docking parts sales
For the regression of HDMI interface and SD card slot, it can be regarded as a balance of Apple’s demand for users. Meanwhile, it also indirectly indicates that these two interfaces are frequently used by users and are the main demands of most users to purchase docking stations. In other words, the 2021 MacBook standard with HDMI interface and SD card slot will have a huge impact on the sales of existing docking accessories. For products with an HDMI interface or SD card slot expansion function, the situation will be more severe.
- Expansion parts cost down
The 2021 MacBook standard with HDMI interface and SD card slot is equivalent to transferring some functions of the original docking station to the laptop body again. Because the docking station function is simplified, both material cost and design cost will be greatly reduced. For users, they can also choose and purchase expansion accessories according to the actual needs, to avoid waste of resources.
- Traditional accessories or stock or price reduction
Apple is known as the industry vane, so once the MacBook Pro with HDMI interface and SD card slot is available, it will inevitably cause the follow-up of other brands in the industry; at the same time, major accessory manufacturers will also launch corresponding docking products. Compared with the new accessories with a simplified interface and more cost advantages, the original full interface, full-function docking station will face stock backlog or will face the situation of pressure reduction and selling.
The 2021 MacBook option is to return the HDMI interface and SD card slot. It seems that it has returned to 5 years ago. In fact, after five years of exploration, Apple has found a balance between technology and user demand. Apple may find it difficult to keep pace with the pace of external device interface standards, and the docking accessory ecosystem is difficult to build. For users, we can only bear the trouble caused by the rapid development of technology.
Back to the docking industry, although apple and other major manufacturers have not pushed forward the development of their own centered accessory ecology, after five years of development, the products in the market have actually become highly standardized. The difference between products is mainly interfaced, while interface chip technology is in the hands of several core suppliers. So in normal circumstances, there would have been no big variables in the industry.
Apple M1, M2 (future) processors have a strong performance. After MacBook is added to the HDMI interface, the notebook does not directly connect with the TV, display, VR terminals, etc. with the help of a docking station, so that MacBook can become a productivity tool for work, games, and video applications.
The introduction of the HDMI interface and SD card slot into the Apple 2021 MacBook Pro is a historical event for the development of the docking industry. Although it will break the existing balance system of the docking market, it can also effectively stimulate the market to bring new opportunities.
