Andrew Cunningham
The MacBook Air is Apple’s hottest laptop computer, and when the Apple M1 and M2 chips landed, they got here to the Air first. That modified with the M3 chip era, which got here to the MacBook Professional and iMac first however left the Air untouched.
That state of affairs ought to change early subsequent 12 months, in keeping with a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Apple is reportedly getting ready to launch updates to the MacBook Air, in addition to a number of new iPad fashions, in “the March time-frame.” Apple hasn’t launched any new iPads in 2023, and the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air was launched in July of 2022.
Gurman says to not anticipate design adjustments from the M3 Air. The M2 model launched a brand new non-tapered design with a show notch, a brand new keyboard, and a MagSafe port, and the M3 Air ought to look externally an identical.
The report signifies that Apple will refresh each the 13- and 15-inch MacBook Airs on the identical time. The 15-inch M2 mannequin was launched in June of 2023, way more not too long ago than the 13-inch model. Refreshing the 15-inch Air after simply 9 months could be a bit uncommon however not completely remarkable. And it is undoubtedly simpler to clarify the variations between the 2 sizes if every thing inside them stays the identical.
Pricing can also be an open query. Apple at the moment sells the growing older M1 MacBook Air as a $999 entry-level mannequin, charging a $100 premium for the newer chip and newer design of the M2 Air. Apple may knock the M2 Air all the way down to $999 when it introduces the M3 replace, it may drop the worth of the M3 Air to hit $999, or it may discontinue the M1 and M2 variations and make $1,099 the brand new beginning worth for a MacBook Air. Apple may even proceed to promote the M1 Air for $999 and hold charging a premium for the M3 Air refresh; Apple bought some model of the 2015 non-Retina MacBook Air for 4 years earlier than lastly discontinuing it.
As for the iPads, Apple is seemingly planning to launch 4 new fashions throughout the iPad Air and iPad Professional product traces (eight, should you depend the Wi-Fi and mobile variations as separate fashions), plus refreshed Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard equipment. The iPad Air will are available in each 10.9- and 12.9-inch variations, which might make it the primary large-screened non-Professional iPad. The iPad Professional will include an overhauled design, the M3 chip, and new OLED show panels, and it’ll presumably hold providing premium options like a greater digicam, a FaceID sensor, and a high-refresh-rate ProMotion display. The brand new Magic Keyboard for the redesigned iPad Professional will reportedly “make the iPad Professional look extra like a laptop computer and embody a sturdier body with aluminum.”
Gurman frames these {hardware} updates as an effort to “reverse a decline in Mac and iPad gross sales,” although they’re taking place at roughly the identical cadence that they often do. The Mac has been struggling to put up any year-over-year development in latest quarters, however that has been broadly true of most PC corporations as they’ve handled a pandemic-era boom-and-bust. If the Mac’s gross sales do return to rising (and even staying roughly stage) in 2024, it would have much less to do with an M3 MacBook Air refresh and extra to do with gross sales normalizing after a few unpredictable and irregular years.