MacBook Air with upgraded Apple Silicon could arrive in 2022, analyst predicts
Mass production of Apple's new laptop could begin in late second quarter or early third quarter of next year, says analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
Apple's 2020 13-inch MacBook Air was one in the first crop of computers to be powered by the company's M1 processor.
The next version of Apple's MacBook Air with a new version of the company's in-house chip will arrive in the third quarter of 2022, according to a research note from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, reported Sunday by 9to5 Mac. Mass production of the new laptop is expected to begin late in the second quarter or early third quarter of next year, he said.
This timeframe is slightly later than in Kuo's earlier estimate. In August, the analyst predicted that the next-gen MacBook Air would arrive in mid-2022. Apple unveiled new Mac computers powered by its M1 chip in 2020, including the MacBook Air.
Although an updated MacBook Pro is rumored to debut later this year, no new Macs made an appearance at Apple's product event earlier this month. Instead, the company debuted its iPhone 13 lineup, alongside the Apple Watch 7, iPad Mini 6 and updated entry-level iPad. The iPhone 13 lineup mirrors last year's iPhone 12 lineup with standard, Mini, Pro and Pro Max models. The updated iPhone runs on Apple's new operating system iOS 15.
Apple didn't immediately respond to CNET's request for comment.