Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

The next MacBook Air could come with a major disappointment

Promotional logo for WWDC 2023.
This story is part of our complete Apple WWDC coverage

It’s something of an open secret that Apple is working on a couple of fresh MacBook Air models, including an all-new 15-inch MacBook Air. Many details about these devices have been shrouded in mystery, but a prominent analyst has just shed some much-needed light on them — and it’s not all good news.

Posting on Twitter, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo updated his previous predictions for Apple’s lightweight laptop. In the new post, Kuo outlined a slate of ideas for what could be coming next.

A MacBook Air on a desk with an open book in front of it.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The most disappointing news concerned the chip the next MacBook Air will be powered by. Previously, there was plenty of speculation that the high-end 15-inch model could be outfitted with an M2 Pro chip, giving it a welcome power boost compared to the smaller 13-inch version.

Recommended Videos

However, Kuo seems to have abandoned this idea, stating that “the upcoming 15-inch MacBook Air will feature the M2 series and offer two processor spec options. However, two options are more likely to be M2 with different cores (similar to the M2 13-inch MacBook Air).”

In other words, the 15-inch MacBook Air is likely to go without the M2 Pro, instead offering two different M2 configuration options.

That’s a little disheartening. When Apple has previously released a laptop in two different sizes, the larger model has often had more powerful processor options (for example, the 16-inch MacBook Pro compared to its 14-inch sibling). Yet perhaps Apple is worried the 15-inch MacBook Air will cannibalize the MacBook Pro if it comes with too strong a chip inside, hence the more limited options.

The M3 on the horizon

The MacBook Air on a table in front of a window.
Digital Trends

Kuo also had a few words for the upcoming M3 chip. It will reportedly enter mass production in the second half of 2023, “slightly ahead of the M3 Pro and M3 Max.” The M3 is expected to be Apple’s first 3-nanometer Mac chip, which could bring significant performance improvements when it launches in the MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac mini.

However, that implies the M2 in the next MacBook Air laptops will be made using the existing 5nm process, meaning a much smaller performance boost than had been rumored.

The M3 Pro and M3 Max, meanwhile, are destined for the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro, which Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman believes will probably arrive in the first half of 2024.

Elsewhere, Kuo confirmed that the 15-inch laptop would indeed bear the full “MacBook Air” title. Kuo had previously speculated that it might not bear the “Air” name, but the analyst seems to have backtracked on that idea now.

Kuo reckons the 15-inch MacBook Air will go on sale at some point in 2023 and will ship 5 million to 6 million units. With M3-equipped Macs likely to go on sale in early 2024, that suggests the 15-inch MacBook Air could launch sooner rather than later — which lines up neatly with rumors that have placed its launch at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 5. Better mark your calendar.

Alex Blake
Alex Blake has been working with Digital Trends since 2019, where he spends most of his time writing about Mac computers…
Here’s how Apple’s first foldable MacBook might win me over
The Zenbook Fold 17 open on a table.

Rumors have persisted for years now that Apple is working on a touchscreen MacBook, but I’ve never been truly convinced. For one thing, I don’t see how a touchscreen could improve my MacBook experience enough to justify the inevitable price rise. This is Apple we’re talking about, after all, and there’s just no way that a touchscreen MacBook will possibly come cheap.

As well as that, I’ve long agreed with Steve Jobs’ belief that adding a touchscreen to a regular MacBook is an ergonomic nightmare. Constantly reaching up to the display is a quick way to exhaust your arms, and paining its users isn’t really part of Apple’s playbook. The Mac operating system isn’t designed for touch either, and in any case, adding a touchscreen would result in all manner of greasy fingerprints on your monitor. It’s never seemed like a good idea to me.

Read more
The M4 MacBook Air is displaying some odd behavior we don’t understand yet
Apple MacBook Air 15 M4 front angled view showing display and keyboard.

People are getting their hands on the new M4 MacBook Air this week, which means they're posting lots of discoveries about its performance (and the blueness of the new Sky Blue color). While editing photos in Lightroom Classic, YouTuber Vadim Yuryev noticed that the CPU workload was being handled almost completely by the laptop's six efficiency cores.

https://x.com/VadimYuryev/status/1899986842998784243

Read more
The MacBook Air proves you don’t need AI to create a world class laptop
Apple MacBook Air 13 M4 front angled view showing display and keyboard.

Our review of the M4 MacBook Air has just dropped, and it’s fair to say it’s one of the best laptops money can buy. For the first time ever, we gave it full marks and a five-star score, with our reviewer dubbing it “as close to perfect” as any laptop they’d seen. There’s no question that it raises the bar for thin and light laptops.

You name it, the MacBook Air has it: impressive performance that belies its lightweight design, build quality that will stand the test of time, a quiet and fanless operation that ensures you can work in peace, a comfortable keyboard and expansive trackpad, and so much more.

Read more