The biggest Mac announcement at WWDC was about the old MacBook Air

By Jacob Roach Published June 5, 2023

Apple announced a ton of new Macs at WWDC 2023, including the 15-inch MacBook Air and a long-awaited update to the Mac Pro. However, the biggest announcement of the event flew under the radar, and it has to do with the older 13-inch MacBook Air.

Introducing the 15-inch model, Apple announced that it’s slashing the price on the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air by $100, bringing it down to $1,100. It’s still not as cheap as the M1 MacBook Air, which comes in at $1,000, but it’s much closer.

15-inch MacBook Air shown at WWDC 2023. — Apple

There are a couple reasons this is such a big deal. For starters, Apple almost never reduces its prices on Macs. They rarely go on sale, and even more rarely see a price cut. Just look at the M1 MacBook Air. It’s selling for the same $1,000 that Apple launched it for three years ago.

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It looks like Apple is taking a similar approach that it takes with its iPhones. In most cases, Apple will drop the price of last-gen iPhones as it gets ready to introduce new models, and that’s a bit of what’s happening the MacBook Air M2. As rumors indicate, Apple could also be making way for an M3 MacBook Air to launch later this year, which would likely slot right into that $1,200 price point.

The new price makes the M2 MacBook Air a lot more impressive, too. It still runs hot and it’s not as much of an upgrade over the M1 model as some were hoping for, but it feels less overpriced now than it did when the machine released in the middle of last year.

Although the price cut on the MacBook Air was a big announcement without much fanfare, Apple introduced a ton of new Macs to its lineup. We also got our first glimpse of the M2 Ultra, which is not only powering an updated Mac Studio, but also the long-awaited Mac Pro update.

There’s no question that the biggest announcement out of the event was Apple’s Vision Pro, which itself could be considered a Mac considering it’s powered by an M2 chip. For those not interested in jumping on the latest tech, however, especially when it’s as expensive as the Vision Pro, the price correction on the MacBook Air was a big highlight of WWDC this year.

Former Lead Reporter, PC Hardware

Jacob Roach is the lead reporter for PC hardware at Digital Trends. In addition to covering the latest PC components, from…

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