As WWDC approaches, rumors suggest that it will be a huge show this year, with Apple using the stage to unveil several new products, including the long-awaited AR headset and a 15-inch MacBook Air. Based on the latest report, Apple’s new laptop is indeed on track for a June launch, but probably won’t bring many surprises.
According to a post on the Korean-language blog Naver (translation), the 15-inch Air will ship with an M2 chip rather than an M3 as originally planned. Apple’s M3 had originally expected to ship in the first half of 2023, but “complex factors such as market conditions and inventory adjustment” as well as “TSMC’s mass production problems” have delayed its release, according to the report. A similar report by Mark Gurman earlier this week also claimed that the new Air will have an M2 chip.
That likely means the 15-inch Air will have extremely similar specs and design to the current 13-inch model, with an M2 chip, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, MagSafe, and 8GB of RAM. While there have also been rumors of an M2 Pro option, Ming-Chi Kuo now claims the 15-inch model will have the same options as the 13.6-inch model with an 8-core GPU base model and a 10-core GPU step-up option. The new machine is also likely to have Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 as well.
The 15-inch Air will mark a return to Apple’s most popular laptop size, which was discontinued in 2019 when the 16-inch MacBook Pro arrived. It’s expected to have a starting price of $1,499.
Author: Michael Simon, Executive Editor
Michael Simon has been covering Apple since the iPod was the iWalk. His obsession with technology goes back to his first PC—the IBM Thinkpad with the lift-up keyboard for swapping out the drive. He's still waiting for that to come back in style tbh.