It wasn’t mentioned in the press event yesterday, but Apple may have some “ultra-thin” 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air notebooks en route.
According to the sometimes-very-accurate DigiTimes, Apple may have the new notebooks ready for the end of the second quarter.
The second calendar quarter ends on June 30, meaning that new Macs could feasibly be introduced by WWDC 2016, which will likely take place between June 13-17 based on scheduling information available from the Moscone Center.
The new MacBooks will allegedly “share a design similar to the existing 12-inch MacBook” and be “thinner than [the] existing MacBook Air,” which makes it difficult to infer which MacBook lineup the report is referring to.
The rumor has it that the thinner MacBook Airs would feature “fully redesigned” internal components.
Apple has yet to release a 15-inch MacBook Air, and has always offered the notebook in an 11-inch and a 13-inch size. It’s also been rumored that the MacBook Air could be on the chopping block given the declining costs of the MacBook itself. A redesigned MacBook Air, possibly with a long-awaited Retina display, could be considered a bit of a surprise.
Apple’s refreshed Mac lineup is expected to feature Intel’s faster Skylake processors and Thunderbolt 3 with USB-C, while the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are also deserving candidates for an overall redesign.
Apple last refreshed the 13-inch MacBook Pro in March 2015 and updated the 15-inch model last May. Both notebooks received Force Touch trackpads, faster flash storage, longer battery life, and improved graphics.
The Early 2015 13-inch MacBook Pro is based on Intel’s last-generation Broadwell chip architecture, while the 15-inch model still has older Haswell architecture. Over the past year, Intel has announced Skylake chips appropriate for the 13-inch MacBook Pro, 15-inch MacBook Pro, 12-inch MacBook, and MacBook Airs.
As always, stay tuned and we’ll have additional details as they become available.