NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Apple (AAPL) were advancing in pre-market trading on Wednesday on speculation that the Cupertino, CA-based company is planning the first significant overhaul of its popular MacBook Pro laptop line in over four years, Bloomberg reports.
The new models will be slimmer and feature a touch screen strip for function keys and a more powerful graphics processor for applications such as video games, sources told Bloomberg.
Advanced testing on the new MacBooks have been taking place since earlier this year, but they are not likely to debut at the Apple event to release the new iPhone 7 which is scheduled for September 7.
Mac sales, including the Pro line, rose 6% last fiscal year to $25.5 billion.
The overhaul is aimed at increasing notebook sales during a period when consumers are taking longer to buy or replace iPads, whose sales fell 23% last year.
Apple is also planning to release a new version of the Mac operating system this fall, named Sierra, which will feature Siri, a new messaging and photo management feature, further iCloud integration and better storage.
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