Update: a new leak has the MacBook Air 2022 tipped to have a notch-free display.
On Friday, a whole host of details about the upcoming 2022 MacBook Air were revealed by Dylandkt — a leaker with an enviable 75% accuracy rating on Appletrack. Crucially, Dylandkt’s details corroborated much of what Jon Prosser (Appletrack rating: 74.6%) had revealed five months earlier, complete with the renders we topped the article with.
Now we’ve gone full circle as Prosser and his artist, RendersByIan, have updated their original images, taking into account the new details surfaced by Dylandkt.
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This means the images now feature the return of MagSafe, Apple’s magnetic charging port.
Not only do MagSafe cables attach in a hugely satisfying manner, but they unclip with a tiny bit of force. That means your pricey new laptop won’t crash to the floor if someone trips on a stray charging cable.
You’ll also note from the above picture that RendersByIan has adopted a solid white color behind the keys, mirroring the all-black keyboard seen on the 2021 MacBook Pros. The visible metal between each key appears to be a thing of the past.
These renders also show two Thunderbolt ports and a headphone jack — far fewer ports than the new MacBook Pros, but in line with what the Air has traditionally offered. Unlike the MacBook Air with M1, which has both Thunderbolt ports on one side, these renders show a Thunderbolt port on opposite sides of the laptop.
And then there’s a notch.
It’s interesting that the new render includes this, as it’s far from guaranteed. Indeed, Dylandkt specifically said that he couldn’t confirm “whether it will have a notch” in his original Twitter thread, but nonetheless here’s what it could look like:
With the presumed white borders, it certainly looks strange, and harder to blend in with macOS’s menu bar. Of course, a black notch with a white border would probably look even stranger, so it will be interesting to see if Apple does double down on the divisive design by including it here too. Dylandkt did promise a 1080p webcam, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it uses exactly the same tech as the MacBook Pro, after all.
Of course, even notch haters have to acknowledge one thing: its presence points to dramatically thinner bezels, as seen on the 14-inch MacBook Pro unboxing comparison, so there is at least a positive here if Apple does indeed take that design approach.
In any case, there’s some time left before we know for sure. Dylandkt predicts that the new laptop won’t arrive until the middle of 2022, with a price that’s only “slightly” higher than the current M1 MacBook Air — which, for reference, starts at $999.
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