Skip to main content

The mysterious 2022 MacBook Air may drop the ‘Air’ name altogether

Though Apple’s new MacBook Pro lineup is here, the rumor mill continues to churn in regard to the next evolution of the entry-level MacBook Air.

The updated model will allegedly sport the same MagSafe connector Apple brought back to the MacBook Pro, as well as introduce Apple’s next-gen M2 custom silicon. Did we also mention it may not be called the MacBook Air?

Recommended Videos

This rumor comes courtesy of Twitter leaker, Dylandkt, who’s been fairly reliable when it comes to Apple leaks. The new leaks seem to confirm earlier rumors of a 2022 release and a bevy of color options similar to the M1 iMac 24-inch. The overall design will reportedly be similar to the new MacBook Pro, yet thinner, lighter, and fanless.

Jon Prosser's render of the new MacBook Air.
Jon Prosser

Unlike the MacBook Pro, the new MacBook Air may not have the 120Hz Pro Motion display, SD card slot, or HDMI port.  It will include MagSafe, a 1080p webcam, and USB-C ports. While the lack of Pro Motion is disappointing, it may at least still have the mini-LED display.

One of the more interesting bits of news is that this new MacBook will usher in Apple’s M2 processors. That’s not completely surprising considering the current MacBook Air was one of the first Apple devices to receive the M1 chip. Judging by the jumps in performance Apple has had in its A-series chips, it’s safe to say that the M2 will likely be a healthy boost over the current M1.

How will the base M2 compare to the more powerful, newly announced M1 Pro and M1 Max in the MacBook Pro line? That, we don’t know, but it’ll likely hold its own. The fact that this rumored MacBook Air will still be fanless means that total system power will probably be around what it is now while still bringing boosts in performance.

Dylandkt also confirmed that the pricing will be slightly higher and that the new Air will lose its trademark tapered design. Interestingly, Apple may also choose to drop the “Air” off of the name entirely and just name it MacBook. This harks back to the 2015 12-inch MacBook which famously only had one USB-C port (and was subsequently discontinued).

David Matthews
Former Digital Trends Contributor
David is a freelance journalist based just outside of Washington D.C. specializing in consumer technology and gaming. He has…
The M5 MacBook Pro may be another boring update
MacBook Pro with M4

The recently announced 2024 MacBook Pro lineup is not even on the market yet, but there is already buzz about the next two generations of the laptop series. Speculation suggests that there likely won’t be any exciting features on the Apple device until 2026.

There have already been rumors circulating, which indicate the MacBook Pro may upgrade from a mini-LED display to an OLED display in 2026, has been speculated for many months. Industry analysts, including Ming-Chi Kuo and Ross Young, have stated that the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models are set to remain as mini-LED displays in 2025.

Read more
Leaked M4 MacBook Pro benchmarks reveal incredible performance
MacBook Pro with M4

The M4 MacBook Pros launched this week with plenty to talk about. Performance, however, wasn't the focus of all the attention. Apple didn't provide many direct comparisons of how much more powerful the M4 MacBook Pro is over the previous generation of chips.

But now some leaked benchmarks for the M4 series have been put online, and they reveal just how significant of an uplift the M4 Max and M4 Pro bring. Over on X (formerly Twitter) user James Atkinson discovered some results from a Geekbench 6 benchmark for the M4 Max chip, which revealed 4,060 single-core and 26,675 multi-core scores.

Read more
The era of 8GB RAM is over
Mac Mini with M4

This week, Apple exorcised its Mac lineup of one particular tech spec that has been a PC standard for almost a decade. I'm talking, of course, about selling PCs with 8GB of RAM.

Not only did Apple remove 8GB configurations from its new M4 MacBook Pros, Mac mini, and iMac, it even went back to its lineup of MacBook Air models and bumped everything up to 16GB. Apple was widely expected to make this change on the M4 MacBook Pro after receiving pushback on last year's M3 model, but not on the MacBook Air.

Read more