Sean M Everett

I haven’t seen anyone mention this and I follow nearly every major apple blog and tech pundit as religiously as my daily Teddy Ruxpin regimen.

But I now firmly believe that Apple will release matte black MacBooks using the same finish as the new iPhone’s “slate” sides and back.

There was a tiny rumor that this was being tested a year ago but the product was shelved due to the finish wearing off after short usage.

But I’ll tell you this much with confidence: Apple doesn’t just slap something on their flagship, most profitable product (that Jobs also spent the last moments of his life working on) if it hasn’t been thoroughly inspected and tested. And yes, that includes the $100 million facility they used to test the iPhone 4’s antenna (see: antennagate).

And now, apparently that finish has been perfected and is being “tested” on the iPhone 5. I know this to be true because they spent zero time or web space discussing this brand new finish.

The fact that they were silent about it means they’re protecting themselves if something doesn’t go quite as planned.

Maybe they’ve perfected it enough that they’ll release the black colorway this fall but I doubt it. If that was the case the Retina MacBook Pro would have come in that option.

I could be wrong but maybe they wait until next fall and release the MacBook Air with this new finish and Retina display next fall.

Why a new finish? Not just because it’s the color of their flagship product. No, that’s too obvious.

The real answer started many years ago. Remember the plastic MacBooks that came in two colors, white and black?

Well, guess what the two new colors are going to be?

Look no further than the iPhone 5, where they’ve trained people to upgrade every year. You’re crazy if you don’t think Apple is looking for a creative way to transfer this annual updating to their most expensive product lines.

Matte black + Retina display = Upgrade.