A spate of persistent rumors making the rounds say Apple, Inc. is making good progress on a slew of new products guaranteed to leave Apple lovers drooling.

KGI Securities analyst Ming Chi-Kuo, who has built a reputation for his generally accurate predictions of future Apple products, said the iPad Air 2, a 12 inch MacBook and an Apple phablet will hit the market this year.

Kuo said the iPad Air 2 will run an Apple A8 processor and Touch ID or fingerprint recognition. He believes the Air 2 will launch soon. The little known A8 processor is expected to bring 64 bit computing strategy to the next level and could exceed Intel's Core i5 processors in performance.

We could see a slimmer iPad Mini Retina, perhaps about the same size and weight as the original iPad Mini. The Mini Retina slow sales has been blamed on I being slightly larger and heavier than the first-gen Mini because of the Retina display. Price has also been a factor. The entry Retina model was priced at $399 against the first-gen Mini's $329.

The large iPad will be targeted at professionals who have been demanding a better entertainment and productivity tool. Kuo again said the product likely won't make it to the market until 2015. On the other hand, the iPad Pro could be a hybrid that includes an Apple-designed keyboard.

The 12 inch MacBook is the long-awaited Retina version of the MacBook Air, said Kuo. He expects the unprecedented 12 inch model to have both the portability of the 11 inch and the productivity of the 13 inch model 

The high resolution display of the 12 inch will also offer the outstanding visual experience of the Retina MacBook Pro. The 12 inch MacBook will likely be lighter and slimmer than the existing MacBook Air to further highlight ease of portability in the cloud computing era.  The 12 inch is expected to  hit the shelves in late 2014.

The much anticipated iPhone 6/'phablet' is still rumored to be either a 4.7 inch or 5.5 inch machine. The 5.5 inch could be positioned as a phablet and is expected to be sold this Christmas season. The 5.5 inch model is expected with a big battery with 50% to 70% more watt-hours than the 5S.