We expect a 13-inch MacBook Pro that runs on ARM-based Apple Silicon this year, but a new rumor shows that Apple may be thinking big.
Taiwan-based tech publication DigiTimes reports that its “industry sources” say Apple plans to launch its other MacBook at the same time. And that makes us wonder how Apple plans to differentiate its laptops.
Quoting the report, “Apple is set to launch 13-inch MacBook Pro and Apple Silicon-powered MacBook Air by the end of this year.” This triggered an alarm in my brain: How will the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air differ once we are away from Intel’s U and Y series chips?
The report doesn’t explain anything about it, but all of this reminds me of the reported speculation I reported last week, when analyst J. Glenn Künzler argued that Apple won’t make many variations on its laptop’s chips.
Instead, Künzler suggested that the MacBook Air and the 13-inch Pro be merged into a laptop known simply as The New MacBook, or simply MacBook. That the 16-inch MacBook Pro would be Apple’s multi-chip laptop, to make it the most powerful edition.
But if Apple plans to launch two 13-inch ARM-based laptops this winter, one wonders how they would be different. Yes Künzler is right that Apple limits its number of chips. Could the Air get an even bigger redesign than its 2018 edition? Will it become the ultraportable 12-inch MacBook was supposed to be?
As long as the MacBook Air is just a slightly more tapered MacBook Pro, with its wedge shape, Apple faces an engineering decision. The Air has less room for its internal battery by default, so will the Pro last longer? Or would Apple increase the number of A-series chips in the Pro so that the two laptops have a more similar battery life and the Pro is faster?
