Now that December is upon us, it has become clear that the American tech giant would not be releasing the 2016 Apple MacBook Air this year.
The previous reports indicate that the 2016 MacBook Air will come out anytime from October 2015 to March 2016. October 2015 came out of the rumor mills because the month marks the completion of the one-year market cycle of the 2015 MacBook Air.
However, there were also reports that while the 2016 Apple MacBook Air would be launch in October 2015, it would be released to the market in March 2016 because Intel shall be able to mass produce the Skylake processors, to be used in the American tech giant’s latest notebook, only in the fourth quarter this year. And it would take Apple a few months from there to be able to mass produce the 2016 MacBook Air, thus the March 2016 release.
Except for the July launching of the iPod Touch 6th Generation and the September rollout of the latest iPhones, the iPad Pro, the iPad mini 4, the iPad TV, and the iOS 9, Apple no longer has a scheduled product launching on the second half of 2015.
Now, it seems that all those previous rumors have been thrown down to the gutter as latest reports have it that the 2016 MacBook Air would come out in June 2016 during the Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC), notes the Australia Network News.
It could be recalled that it was during the WWDC 2015 when Apple seeded to developers the beta of the iOS 9 prior to its launching some three months later.
Major design refresh
Latest reports also have it that the 2016 MacBook Air would offer a major refresh in terms of design because the notebook line has yet to receive radical changes since the line was first created eight years ago, cites the Christian Post.
Among the significant updates coming to the 2016 MacBook Air include a Retina display, the powerful Intel Skylake processor, better batteries, modules for cooling, Force Touch technology, and USB Type-C ports.
The same connection was introduced during the launching of the 2016 Apple MacBook when it was launched in March, but it only featured one port. It is expected that the 2016 Apple MacBook Air would have at least two USB Type-C ports.
Force Touch technology, on the other hand, has been introduced by the American tech giant in the Apple Watch and the 2016 Apple MacBook when the devices were simultaneously launched in March. The same technology is now being widely adopted by Apple in most of its devices including the latest iPhones – the iPhone 6S and the iPhone 6S Plus.
The rumors are also consistent that the 2016 MacBook Air shall come in two sizes – a 13-inch variant and a 15-inch model.
Final offering for the line
While the 2016 Apple MacBook Air has yet to come out of the retail markets, speculations are rife that it could be the last offering in the American tech giant’s notebook line.
According to analysts, the Apple MacBook line has too many products that compete against each other which are the main reasons why the American tech giant gets an overall poor sales result from it.
With the release of the Apple iPad Pro in November, many believe that it is about time for the Cupertino-based tech company to do some streamlining of its MacBook line.
According to Carolina Milanesi, chief of research and head of US business for Kantar World Panel Comtech, the 2016 MacBook Air should not be around much longer than it should.
She adds that all notebooks need to be more mobile so something like the Air does not need to be branched out anymore. She also says that Apple will benefit if it does not have so many families of Macs.