Although it was upgraded less than a year ago, Apple’s MacBook Air may be getting another chip upgrade. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple plans to release a new MacBook Air “between late spring and summer” that will be powered by an M3 chip.
Gurman reports that Apple is preparing to release an upgraded 13-inch MacBook Air alongside the rumored 15-inch model, but is “unclear” about the type of chip that will power the laptops . Previous reports speculated that the 15-inch model might have an M2 with an M2 Pro option, but since the MacBook Air has an M2 chip, there isn’t much to update except for Wi-Fi. chip (6 to 6E). ) and Bluetooth (5.0 to 5.3). In addition, Gurman reported that Apple plans to release an M3 iMac in the second half of this year, which complicates the timeline.
If Apple launches an M3 MacBook Air this spring, it will be available less than a year after Apple released the M2 13-inch MacBook Air. However, it is also close to the launch of the next-generation M3 chip: “If the machines launch in a few months with the M2 chip, they will quickly become outdated,” Gurman wrote. “A 15-inch MacBook Air with an M2 chip might still excite consumers, but a new M2 13-inch MacBook Air is unlikely to stick.”
The M3 is Apple’s first chip made using the 3nm manufacturing process. It has more transistors and better performance and power efficiency than the 5nm and improved 5m process used in previous chips.
Gurman reported that Apple’s goal is to move the M-series chips on an annual cycle like the A-series chips in the iPhone, even if supply constraints due to the pandemic hinder production. Now that production is getting closer to normal, Apple is looking to pick up its chip cadence, so we’ll see more new Macs released in quick succession, including the MacBook Air, Mac Pro, Mac Studio, and iMac.