Everything we know so far


All signs are pointing to the launch of a new MacBook Air 15-inch (2023) at Apple’s annual WWDC event in June.

If you want to know everything there is to know about the new 15-inch model, you’ve landed on the right article. We’ve rounded up all the key rumours and reports, sorting the wheat from the chaff, so you can get a clear and concise dose of what to expect from the upcoming device. Read on for the skinny.

Release date

Apple is yet to launch the MacBook Air 15-inch (2023), as such, we’re yet to have concrete dates regarding when you’ll be able to pre-order the device and when it will ship.

The MacBook Air 15-inch (2023) isn’t here quite yet, with Apple expected to show off the new machine at WWDC in June. As such, we don’t know when you’ll be able to pre-order the laptop and, ultimately, get your hands on it.

According to Mark Gurman, veteran reporter on all things Apple at Bloomberg, Apple is gearing up to announce three brand new MacBook laptops. WWDC in June is looking to be the perfect spot, but the company from Cupertino has surprised us before. The MacBook Air looks to be the focus, with an update to the 13-inch (2022) expected as well as a new 15-inch model. It’s not all about the Air though, with the first Apple Silicon Mac Pro also rumoured to drop.

These expected dates line up with reports from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (via Twitter), having said that the 15-inch MacBook Air would go into production in 2023. Also adding that we should expect a release date in the second quarter of the year, again, lining up with WWDC.

There remains a small change that the new 15-inch MacBook Air won’t land until 2024 but we’ll update this guide with any information that supports this, should it arise.

Price

Like the release date, there is no confirmed information on price. We can try to extrapolate from the current MacBook Air M2, which starts at £1249/$1119. With the MacBook Air 15 offering a bigger screen, and potentially added power and/or battery life, it seems likely that the new device would come at a greater cost.

With the base MacBook Pro 14-inch (2023) starting at £2149, there looks to be a perfect opening the pricing structure for a new 15-inch MacBook Air to fit it to. As such, we’d expect the new laptop to be priced between £1399 and £1799 depending on your configuration of choice, and how Apple ultimately lands on the specification options available.

You can expect to see Apple Silicon chip used within the laptop but, with both the M2 and M2 Pro touted as potential options, the pricing is up in the air.

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Design and screen

In terms of design, it’s been suggested that the MacBook Air 15-inch will feature a similar aesthetic to the rest of the MacBook lineup. AppleInsider suggested that it will have the same colour range as the iMac.

There is a possibility that it will come in the same colour as the MacBook Air M2 – including Silver, Starlight, Space Grey and Midnight – but Apple could decide to throw in some more colourful and vibrant options for a larger device. 

Analyst Ross Young (via Twitter) did indicate that the MacBook Air could measure in at 15.2 inches instead of the standard 15 inches. It’s likely that it will have thin bezels as well as a notch in the display, in the same vein as the other MacBook models. 

Moreover, Young claims the MacBook Air 15-inch will stick with the same LCD panel used on the MacBook Air M2, and so won’t get an OLED or Mini LED upgrade.

Specs

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (via Twitter) predicts that the MacBook Air 15-inch will come with M2 and M2 Pro chip options. This would make it more powerful than the current generation MacBook Air, which comes with support for the M2 chip, but no options to pair it with the M2 Pro chipset. 

Kuo’s prediction is largely matched by Mark Gurman, who states the MacBook Air models launching in June will feature a chip on par with the M2 range. Gurman highlighted further details on the chips here, with information showing up in developer test logs. You can expect a chip option with an 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU and 8GB unified memory.

There have previously been some murmurings (via 9to5Mac) about whether a new M3 chip could feature on the upcoming MacBook Air models but that has been largely dispelled by sources, such as Gurman. Gurman has reported the M3 Pro chip (with a 12-core CPU and 18-core GPU) has entered testing for a future MacBook Pro (via Bloomberg), but no word when to expect the M3 chip on a MacBook Air just yet.

For ports, we expect that it will come with MagSafe support, as well as a similar port selection to the MacBook Air, including a headphone jack and Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports for data transfer and charging. 

It’s up in the air whether Apple will increase the size of the battery to offset the larger screen. But with Kuo expecting two different processor options, it’s possible that each configuration could ship with a different charger.

That’s all we know about the MacBook Air 15-inch (2023) right now, but we’ll be updating this article as soon as we hear more credible rumours and news.

The Trusted Take

When it comes to Apple devices, it feels like rumours are often around forever before we finally see a product but, with the MacBook Air 15-inch (2023), it seems to have come around fairly quickly.

Rumours from trusted sources indicate we will see the new device at WWDC; this seems pretty concrete. The device also makes a ton of sense for Apple given the gap in pricing between a 13-inch MacBook Air and a 14-inch MacBook Pro. Apple loves having steady price escalation between its devices and their configurations. The 15-inch Air fits this perfectly.

However, just how different this larger model will be from the current MacBook Air remains up in the… sorry, air. Our level of excitement largely depends on this.

Seeing a new M3 chip would’ve been huge, with it set to represent a bigger leap in performance from M1 to M2, but that looks like it won’t be happening. The likely upgrade, still with an M2 flavour, would mean you’re likely just getting a larger screen and little else. Then, an M2 Pro option really muddies the waters of the MacBook range, and will likely introduce confusion for consumers when it comes to picking their device.





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