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Following reports that new display technology is being planned for next year’s MacBook Pro and MacBook Air laptops, an all-new, “affordable” MacBook Air is also being prepared for launch.
UKRAINE – 11/10/2020: In this photo illustration, the new MacBook Air computer seen on a mobile phone … [+]
SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images
The details come from prominent Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, and are based on his recent work on mini-LED technology coming to Mac laptops next year. Hartley Charlton reports:
“… Kuo explained that two new MacBook Pro models equipped with an all-new form factor design are expected to launch in 2021, and a new ‘affordable’ MacBook Air is expected in 2022, all with Apple Silicon chips and mini-LED displays. … Kuo also believes that Apple will be able to offset the higher cost of using mini-LED panels in Mac devices because the cost of Apple Silicon chips is significantly lower than that of Intel processors. “
The mini-LED upgrade for next year’s Mac models has been widely discussed, and there is an expectation that in addition to laptops, Apple will also install mini-LEDs on at least one of the iPad Pro tablets.
It’s the idea of an ‘affordable MacBook Air’ that intrigues me. First of all, I’d love to know what Apple’s definition of “affordable” really is. I highly doubt we’re looking at a $ 499 competitor to Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Go, but with current MacBook Air models priced at $ 999 and $ 1249, a price of $ 899 or even an ambitious $ 799 could be in the ranks. cards.
Apple has already committed to every new Mac that launches with ARM-based Apple Silicon by the end of 2022, so it’s pretty much a given that this affordable MacBook Air will ship with one of the newer ARM chips.
Here’s an interesting question about the specs too. The M1 chip may be Apple’s fastest chip in town, but it will also be the slowest of the M chip series. With suggestions that an M1X will arrive in 2021, and presumably an M2 chip in 2022, that will naturally create space. in the portfolio for a MacBook Air M1 to sit under a supposed MacBook Air with M2 technology.
Apple’s combination of the M1 processor with tight integration with the Mac platform hardware and software has presented a major challenge to Microsoft and its Windows 10 partners. The machines released this year are only the first iterations.
Subsequent iterations will address any hardware issues, software will be improved, and new technology will push the boundaries of performance and potential. And the Windows 10 platform as a whole will have to react.
Now fast-forward the clock to early 2022, the next sprouting of performance-focused MacBooks is released, and Apple pushes an M1-spec laptop with a new design at a lower price point. Consumers may not be completely comfortable with trading in detailed performance specs and benchmarks in the way geekerati are making comparisons to new 2020 Macs. But they can easily get the idea of a more laptop. cheap, with more power and longer battery life, being something desirable.
And if that laptop appears in your price range, and it has the aura of the Apple brand, then Microsoft and the Windows team are going to face a huge uproar in the market.
Now read more about the leaked details of the new MacBook coming in 2021 …
