If you’re hankering for an updated MacBoo Air, there could be one in the relatively near future.
Per recent certifications, a new MacBook Air battery model has been filed in China and Denmark.
A 49.9Wh battery with a capacity of 4380mAh was spotted by a MySmartPrice contributor in certification filings with UL Demko and the China Certification Corporation, regulatory bodies that must approve and test new hardware used by Apple and other companies.
The battery seems to be slated for an upcoming MacBook Air given its capacity. While the current MacBook Air features a 49.9Wh battery, as this model does, Apple has switched to a new A2389 model number that differs from the A1965 model number used in the last few MacBook Air generations.
Still, there’s no word as to when a new MacBook Air could arrive, and these regulatory filings can occur months ahead of a new product’s arrival. Current rumors have stated that this MacBook Air could be one of the first Macs to receive an Apple Silicon chip, and that the new notebook could arrive before the end of 2020.
Apple has confirmed that the first Apple Silicon Macs are expected before the end of the year, but has not provided details on which machines will be upgraded first. The company already upgraded the MacBook Air in 2020 with 10th-generation Intel processors and a scissor switch keyboard, but it’s not out of the question that a second update could come in 2020 given the swap to Apple Silicon chips.
The current 49.9Wh battery can provide up to 11 hours of battery life when browsing the web and up to 12 hours when using the Apple TV app for watching movies. The new battery could see improvements in battery life, even if the battery size itself remains the same.
The Apple Silicon processors are expected to be much more power efficient than the current Intel chips used in the MacBook Air series, so in addition to performance improvements, battery life could be bumped up as well.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via MacRumors and @smartvenkat95