The MacBook Air with the M3 chip will be launched by Apple in the second half of 2023, if new rumors are to be believed.
How MacRumors (opens in a new tab) marked, it comes from DigiTimes (opens in a new tab) (not our most favorite credible source, needless to say – and we’ll come back to that later) which asserts that the MacBook Air coming later this year will use a 3nm chip (meaning it will be the M3, it drops compared to the 5nm process used in the M2 SoC).
DigiTimes tells us: “The supply chain is more focused on the lower-priced MacBook Air, which is expected to be updated in the second half of 2023 and may come with a 3nm processor.”
Note that there is some ambiguity here because the theorem is figurative power have a 3nm chip (M3). Of course, we heard similar rumors last year that the M2 Pro and Max could be built at 3nm, but they turned out to be false as Apple saved a process drop for the M3 (which will no doubt go that route).
One more thing to note here, as MacRumors points out, is that earlier this week, a more credible Apple leaker, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, made the claim that the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros will be refreshed with the 3nm M3 Pro and M3 Max chips. they will arrive in 2024 – but Kuo did not mention that the MacBook Air will receive the M3.
Analysis: 15-inch MacBook Air with M3 will cause the buyer a bit of remorse?
There are several questions related to this rumor. First, there is no mention of what the specs of the MacBook Air might be, and whether there will be a new 15-inch MacBook Air (which has been rumored for some time) along with a 13-inch model that will debut in the second half of 2023. it remains guesswork on this issue, although earlier rumor mill theorized about an earlier launch of the 15-inch Air incarnation (namely in the first half of this year, so possibly at WWDC).
Second, we need to be careful and skeptical here, as DigiTimes is, shall we say, less than accurate – especially around Apple rumors in our experience. Indeed, the publication came with the story that the new MacBook Pros will not arrive in early 2023, just days before the actual launch of these models; so this is a pretty big faux pas in recent history.
If the 15-inch version of the MacBook Air does indeed go up this year, it could potentially trigger buyers’ remorse for those who decide to pull the trigger on the new MacBook Pro now. There’s no shortage of people wanting a larger-screen MacBook Air to take advantage of the larger display area of an Apple notebook that will be much cheaper than the MacBook Pro but should still be solidly capable thanks to the new M3 silicon chip inside.
Indeed, that drop to 3nm should kick off some pretty impressive gains in performance and efficiency, perhaps meaning much better battery life – or a sleeker power supply inside, for a smaller and more portable Air (perhaps offsetting at least some of the weight gain from the Air’s enlargement with 15 inch rotation). In that case, the 13-inch version can be very “airy” indeed.
However, we still have our doubts about this, as it seems that an M3 launch later this year would be pretty quick for Apple (what about the more powerful M2 flavors that have only just arrived). Moreover, other rumors did not point to a MacBook Air with the M3; and as mentioned above, Kuo is currently only talking about the next Pro refreshes for the M3 SoC (supposed to happen next year).
That’s not to say DigiTimes can’t be right in this case though, but we’ll withhold judgment for now as we’re sure to hear more from other places soon if things really turn out to be.