Apple has pushed back the next-gen MacBook Air to later in 2022, and no more high-end MacBook Pro launches are expected until next year – but there will be a Pro 13-inch overhaul, or at least that’s the latest word from the rumor mill.
All this comes from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, a well-known Apple leaker, who broke this latest speculation via his newsletter (as flagged up by MacRumors).
Gurman asserts that it was Apple’s original intention to launch the fully redesigned MacBook Air powered by a next-gen M2 chip at the end of last year, or early in 2022, but obviously that didn’t happen (the refreshed Air was certainly a strong tip for Apple’s most recent launch event – but didn’t show up).
Apple hasn’t been able to stick to this original timeframe, apparently, and so is now planning on launching the MacBook Air in the second half of 2022.
As for other MacBooks, we won’t see any new MacBook Pro 14-inch or 16-inch models this year, so Apple will not be debuting anything in that category until 2023, Gurman observes. When those refreshed higher-end MacBook Pro versions do turn up, they will likely sport M2 Pro and M2 Max SoCs.
However, the Apple leaker believes that we could see a revamped MacBook Pro 13-inch – the base model – turn up at some stage this year, and that could sport the M2 chip which is also destined for the next MacBook Air as mentioned.
Analysis: Evidence for the Air is gathering weight
Of course, with the MacBook Air being so strongly rumored in recent times, it’s a good bet that it’s still in the cards to appear from Apple, and the most likely launch slot would be at a big Apple event in the fall. This ties in with another heavyweight Apple leaker, Ming-Chi Kuo, predicting that the redesigned MacBook Air could hit mass production in Q3 (or maybe late Q2), and so would be launched not too far down the line after that.
Elsewhere on the grapevine, inside sources who spoke to 9to5Mac have theorized that we will see a new MacBook Air and fresh MacBook Pro 13-inch later in 2022, both with M2 chips – echoing the forecast just provided by Gurman.
So, this latest prediction backs up what has been floating around via the rumor mill already, and seemingly underlines the likelihood of seeing at least the new MacBook Air at some point later this year. And of course maybe a Pro 13-inch refresh, as mentioned, on top, which could run with a pretty basic overhaul (just pepping up the processor to an M2 model, and that’s about all).