Apple MacBook Air 15-inch and new MacBook 12-inch reportedly in the works
New M2 Pro and M2 Max chips are also reportedly on the way
It's been just a few days since Apple's big WWDC 2022 June 6 keynote, where the company unveiled a bumper crop of new laptops and software. Yet we're already hearing that Apple is working on some new designs that could shake up the best Macbook lineup in a big way.
Bloomberg journalist and Apple whisperer Mark Gurman reports that Apple is working on all-new 15-inch MacBook Air, to be released as soon as spring 2023. If that proves true, it would be the first Air with a 15-inch screen ever made.
According to Gurman's sources, the 15-inch Air is envisioned as a wider version of the 13-inch MacBook Air 2022 that was unveiled at WWDC this week alongside the new 13-inch MacBook Pro 2022. Gurman claims Apple initially planned to design the MacBook Air 2022 with a 15-inch screen, but decided to stick with a 13.6-inch display that's slightly larger than the 13.3-inch display on the previous MacBook Air 2020.
Both the MacBook Air 2022 and MacBook Pro 2022 start shipping next month, and they look ready to compete with the best 13-inch laptops on the market since they're both packing the new Apple M2 chip. That newly unveiled silicon is expected to also power the rumored 15-inch MacBook Air.
Speaking of the M2 chip, Gurman also reports that Apple is planning to release improved M2 Pro and M2 Max chips later this year (or early in 2023) inside revamped 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros. This would make a lot of sense, since it's basically a repeat of what Apple did last year by releasing the 2021 MacBook Pros with remarkably powerful variants of Apple's M1 chip — the M1 Pro and M1 Max. It also backs up reports we heard this week that the Apple M2 Pro chip could start production this year.
Last but certainly not least, Gurman reports that Apple is also working on a new 12-inch MacBook design that it may try to release in late 2022 or early in 2023. It's yet unclear what product line this laptop is expected to join, but as Gurman points out it would be the first 12-inch laptop that Apple has sold since the 12-inch MacBook it launched in 2015, then discontinued in 2019.
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Alex Wawro is a lifelong tech and games enthusiast with more than a decade of experience covering both for outlets like Game Developer, Black Hat, and PC World magazine. A lifelong PC builder, he currently serves as a senior editor at Tom's Guide covering all things computing, from laptops and desktops to keyboards and mice.