Why do the new Boeing 737 Max aircraft have scalloped edges on their nacelles?

Question

I flew back from holiday at the weekend on one of the latest Boeing 737 Max 8-200 aircraft in the Ryanair fleet and was geeking out at it's beautiful new wing tips (much to the amusement/annoyance of other passengers in the departure lounge ). However, I'm interested in its new spangly nacelle design with a scalloped rear edge. 
 Can any of our #Aerospace engineers let me know what the significance of it is? Is it just a pretty design element or does it have an effect on the aircraft's performance and if so, how? 
 For those who'd like to geek out too, here's a couple of photos I took of the aircraft and the nacelles

Any info would be great so I can sound really knowledgeable on my next flight on one.

mapj1 · Accepted Answer

The knock on benefit fro cost is is the reduction in weight - to meet the same acoustic standards as before, quite a lot of what is in effect high temperature lagging can be removed. Less weight, as always in a plane, equates to better power to weight / fuel efficiency etc. And compared to alternatives, quite cheap and low risk to retrofit to current designs. I'd expect to see something like this done on more and more designs over time. 
 Messing with the inlet side, though that is also noisy, is more dangerous as there is a risk of creating an ice trap, and then chunks of it fall in. 
 Mike.

Why do the new Boeing 737 Max aircraft have scalloped edges on their nacelles?

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