Apple’s 13- and 15-inch MacBook Air laptops are the best Macs for a whole lot of people and Apple is working towards releasing new versions of both, and a new report claims that development is well on the way.
The new laptops are both expected to feature the next generation of Apple silicon with the M3 chip built on TSMC’s 3nm manufacturing process. That’s the same process that was used to build the iPhone 15 Pro’s A17 Pro chip which bodes well for the future Macs’ performance.
The report also suggests that we can look forward to the updated MacBook Airs arriving in a familiar timeframe — one that Apple has used for its MacBook Air announcements before.
The M3 MacBook Air is coming
The report in question comes via Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, writing in the weekly Power On newsletter. In it, Gurman says that the new MacBook Airs will likely arrive after the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros, with a launch likely to be around spring or summer.
“Those waiting for a new MacBook Air will likely need to hold on a bit longer,” the report says. “I’m told that the 13-inch and 15-inch M3 models have just reached the EVT stage, or engineering verification test, which would put them on schedule for between spring and summer of next year at the earliest.”
That could mean that Apple intends to announce the updated Macs during its WWDC 2024 event, with a June timeframe being the traditional one for its annual developer get-together.
The move to an M3 chip is likely to be the biggest change in this release, although that could be a big change on its own. Improved power management and faster performance are likely, making the 15-inch MacBook Air in particular a great buy for people who want a big screen but don’t want to spend the money needed to get a 16-inch MacBook Pro.