Next year will see the use of codes "F" and "G", and so on. For 2010, machines with a "C" in this position will have been manufactured in weeks 1-26, while machines with a "D" will have been manufactured in weeks 27-52 or 53.
As with the previous system, letters in this position will recycle every ten years. Apple has elected to use 20 different letters in this position, omitting vowels A, E, I, O, and U, as well as B. While leaving the length the same at one character, Apple has modified the "Y" component to include a letter code instead of a number, and the new system will reflect in that code not only the year of manufacture, but also whether it was manufactured in the first or second half of the year. The number in that position would obviously recycle every ten years, but it should be relatively clear from Apple's product release history whether a given machine was produced in 2000 or 2010.
Under the previous format, the "Y" component of the serial number was simply the last digit of the year of manufacture, meaning that a machine produced this year would carry a "0" in that position. The "W" change is also related to a difference in how the "Y" component is used. The difference in the "W" component is more significant, however, including a shift to alphanumeric codes that will make it a bit more difficult to decipher a machine's manufacturing at a simple glance. The addition of a third "P" digit to assist in identifying the manufacturing location is a fairly straightforward change, although it remains to be seen whether existing plant codes will simply have a character such as a "0" appended to them or if the system is being entirely reworked. The increase in length for the new format, which takes on the sequence PPPYWSSSCCCC, can be attributed to changes to the length of the "P", "W", and "C" portions of the code. The new 12-digit serial number format makes a few minor tweaks to the format, which we have been able to decipher. For the time being, the change appears to be limited to the 17" MacBook Pro models, and it is unclear why the 13" and 15" models have not seen the same switch.Īpple's 11-character serial number system has utilized an alphanumeric format of PPYWWSSSCCC, comprising two digits "PP" denoting a plant code where the product was produced, a single digit "Y" denoting the year of manufacturing, two digits "WW" signifying the week of the year in which the machine was produced, a three-digit unique identifier "SSS" to distinguish between machines that would otherwise have the same serial numbers, and a final three digits "CCC" specifying the model.
With the release of refreshed MacBook Pro models earlier this week, Apple has apparently tweaked the format it uses for serial numbers on its devices, moving from an 11-character serial number to a 12-character sequence.
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