It was previous believed that Intel will start shipping the next generation Core i processors codenamed Ivy Bridge by end of Q1 2012 or in early April. However, Digitimes is reporting that Intel will start mass shipment later than originally thought. Intel has notified its partners that mass shipment of Ivy Bridge processors will start in June 2012. Monica Chen wrote:

Intel recently notified its partners about plans to postpone mass shipments of its upcoming Ivy Bridge processors. Despite that the company will still announce the new products and ship a small volume of the processors in early April, mass shipments are not expected to occur until after June, according to sources from notebook players.

Because most first-tier notebook vendors are having trouble digesting their Sandy Bridge notebook inventories due to the weak global economy, while Intel is also troubled by its Sandy Bridge processor inventory, the CPU giant plans to delay mass shipments of the new processors to minimize the impact, the sources noted.

We are hearing from our sources that the next generation MacBook Pro from Apple, which will be completely redesigned and will be based on 22nm Ivy Bridge processor will ship in Q2 2012. New MacBook Pro might be announced as early as April end (if everything goes according to plan), indicating that Apple might be one of the first companies to get their hands on Ivy Bridge processors.