The MacBook Air is having a bit of a moment. After the Apple Silicon treatment, it got a whole resdesign complete with a notch, and then got an upgrade to the M2 chip from the M1. It looks like another MacBook Air refresh is coming quite soon, and this time with a new 15-inch size added to Apple's Mac portfolio.
Mark Gurman, in his latest Power On newsletter, confirmed that there are new MacBook Air models on the way. Apparently, there are two models on the horizon, a 13-inch one and a 15-inch one, but it's not known which chips will be inside these MacBooks just yet.
An early debut for M3?
Gurman says there are three new Macs coming between late spring and summer. While one of these is the new Mac Pro which will finally complete the Apple Silicon transition, the other two are the new MacBook Air models. The first 15-inch MacBook Air model, codenamed J515, and a refresh to the 13-inch model, codenamed J513.
The obvious question is, what chips will power these MacBooks? The 15-incher getting the M2 would make sense, but the 13-inch MacBook Air has already had an M2 refresh, so it begs the question — How will it be different?
Gurman wrote, "But the chip destined for the new MacBook Air models is slightly less clear. If those machines launch in a few months with the M2 chip, they’ll quickly become outdated. A 15-inch MacBook Air with an M2 chip may still excite consumers, but a new M2 13-inch MacBook Air is unlikely to be compelling."
It's not that Apple hasn't repeated chips in the past. It did release the notched redesign with the M1, when the existing model had the M1 as well. However, in that case, the big design change was the selling point. It's unlikely we're getting a new design this time around, so it appears that the 13-inch model may be running the M3 chip.
Gurman says this would mean that the M3 would debut with this new MacBook Air at WWDC 2023, joining the ranks of the best Macs.
