Released in 2023, two new MacBook Airs revealed: 12 and 15 inches added
In recent years, Apple has been adjusting its MacBook lineup, and what consumers perceive most is the change in size. For a long time, the 15-inch MacBook Pro series has been standard, dating back to the PowerBook G4 era, until 2019, when the 16-inch MacBook Pro came out, and the 15-inch model disappeared.
Interestingly, the 15-inch MacBook Pro, which had disappeared for 3 years, may appear on the MacBook Air.
MacBook Air adds a new member
Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman mentioned in the latest report that according to people familiar with the matter, Apple is developing a 15-inch MacBook Air, which will be released as early as spring 2023.
The 15-inch screen is wider than the 13.6-inch MacBook Air. The 15-inch version, originally scheduled to be released this year, has also been postponed to next year, as Apple focused all its energy on the 13.6-inch MacBook Air.
At present, it is not clear whether the 15-inch MacBook Air is also equipped with the M2 chip. However, the report suggests that Apple plans to launch the M2 Pro and M2 Max MacBook Pros in the second half of this year. Among them, the M2 Max CPU has 12 main cores and 38 GPU cores.
It is inferred from this that there are two possibilities for the 15-inch MacBook Air chip, one is to continue to carry the M2 chip; the other is to decentralize the M1 Pro chip.
Apple said at WWDC 22 that the performance of the M2 is 18% higher than that of the M1, and the CPU performance is 18% higher, and the GPU performance is 35% higher. Compared with the M1, the M1 Pro has a 30% increase in CPU performance and a 70% increase in GPU performance. In this way, the overall performance of the M1 Pro is still stronger than that of the M2.
According to this logic, Apple may port the product planning of the MacBook Pro series to the MacBook Air series. The larger version will have stronger performance, and the smaller the size will be lighter and thinner.
12-inch MacBook "resurrection"
Speaking of small size, Apple introduced a 12-inch MacBook in 2015. Unfortunately, this product has only been updated for three generations and was officially discontinued in 2019.
In order to be extremely thin and light, the 12-inch MacBook gave up part of its performance and weighed less than 1KG, making it the leader in thin and light notebooks at the time.
There are three reasons why Apple abandoned the 12-inch MacBook: 1. Too compact design; 2. Limited performance; 3. Overlapping market positioning.
In order to compress the 12-inch MacBook body to less than 1.3 cm, Apple developed the first-generation butterfly keyboard. The whole machine only retained two interfaces, and even canceled the Logo light on the A side.
Although the 5W Core M-series chip, with a fanless design, can meet the needs of the 12-inch MacBook's battery life, it also greatly limits its performance. These seemingly thin and light designs have actually become the reason for being criticized by users.
In addition, the 12-inch MacBook product positioning was at an awkward stage at that time. There was a return to the thin and light MacBook Air, and there was an iPad with productivity as the main selling point. In comparison, the advantages of the 12-inch MacBook were not so much. .
Looking at this product again from the current point of view, it can only be said that it was "not born at the right time". If Apple could launch its own M-series chips at that time, the fate of the 12-inch MacBook's failure might have been rewritten.
After many years, the news of the 12-inch MacBook finally came out on the Internet. Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman said Apple plans to launch a 12-inch MacBook Air in late 2023 or early 2024.
Previously, there were rumors that the 12-inch MacBook would be resurrected. Now it seems that Apple has no intention of restarting the product line, but directly moved the 12-inch MacBook Air.
Reasons for the change in the MacBook Air product line
If the news is true, the MacBook Air lineup will be further refined. The reason why Apple does this is actually very simple. Thanks to the powerful performance of its own M-series chips and a lower energy consumption ratio, the sales of MacBook series products are increasing.
According to the 2022 Q1 global PC report released by IDC, Apple ranked fourth with a shipment of 7.2 million units, accounting for 8.9% of the market, a year-on-year increase of 4.3% compared to last year. In fact, the entire PC market in the first quarter of this year was sluggish. Apple's growth in such a large environment shows that the M-series chips have made great contributions.
MacBook Air is Apple's best-selling entry-level notebook, and the refinement of the product can provide users with more choices.
For example, the 12-inch MacBook Air is aimed at users who pursue the ultimate thinness but need a certain level of performance; the 13.6-inch MacBook Air is positioned as an all-rounder among thin and light books; the 15-inch MacBook Air corresponds to a larger screen that requires stronger performance, but requires certain Portable user.
Of course, the three MacBook Airs may only have different screen sizes, and the performance remains the same. The different sizes are just to meet the needs of different users for thin and light screens.
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