Apple could show off a new MacBook Air at its developer conference in early June. With a modernized design, this entry-level laptop should especially mark the arrival of a new M1 or M2 chip.
A few days before WWDC 2022 (the Worldwide Developers Conference or Apple World Developers Conference), rumors are swirling around the new features that the apple firm is about to unveil (see our article). And if announcements concerning software and services (iOS 16, iPadOS 16, macOS 13, watchOS 8, tvOS 16…) are obviously expected, many also hope to discover new devices. Not the iPhone14, Apple traditionally presenting its new smartphones in the fall, but rather on the side of its computers. Thus, Mark Gurman, the always very well informed analyst at Bloomberg, predicts the 2022 edition of WWDC, which will be held from June 6 to 10, will be an opportunity for the Cupertino company to launch a new laptop. More precisely, a new MacBook Air, its most popular model, because the most affordable. The timing would indeed be good, because the current MacBook Air, which dates from 2020, had not changed externally compared to its predecessor. And for good reason: Apple had above all revolutionized its “engine”, by equipping it with its famous M1 chip, instead of an Intel processor.
MacBook Air 2022: the first Mac with an M2 chip?
If Mark Gurman was right in his predictions, it could be quite different with the MacBook Air 2022. On the one hand, this model would benefit from a completely revised design, with a redesigned chassis, with thinner screen borders, which could be available in several colors, like the iMacs, with green, pink, blue, etc. A clever way to attract a new audience, fond of less austere objects, to the Mac world. Some hope that this new laptop inherits a screen with mini-LED technology, but this is only a wish. However, one could logically imagine that it integrates a Wi-Fi 6E wireless module to put itself at the level of its competitors under Windows. What seems certain, however, is that Apple will equip it with a new in-house chip. And if the current MacBook Air works with the M1 – an ARM-based CPU-GPU combo that has worked wonders since its release in 2020 – the 2022 model could usher in its announced successor, the M2. A second generation all-in-one chip, which would not be an improved version of the M1, as are the M1 Pro, the M1 Max or the M1 Ultra, which would have 10 CPU cores and 10 GPU cores, and which should logically break new records in terms of performance and consumption – and therefore autonomy, one of the strengths of MacBooks.
Of course, these are only rumors and forecasts – even hopes, for the fans –, Apple never leaking anything before its official announcements. In addition, given the tense production problems in China – which could delay the marketing of the iPhone 14 according to some analysts… – it remains possible that Apple prefers to keep the M1 in its new MacBook to maintain its schedule. Or, that the release of this model powered by an M2 is postponed. Answer on June 6, during the WWDC 2022 opening keynote, which will be broadcast live online on the site and on Apple’s YouTube channel.