Apple MacBook Air 2022 launch may happen later this year but M2 chip unexpected

Apple's plan to launch a new MacBook Air this year may still be on, but the mix of hardware for the laptop may be different from what we have heard so far.

Apple’s “Peek Performance” was all about the new iPhone SE, iPad Air, and the new Mac Studio. But rumours before the launch wanted this event to also be about MacBooks. It was rumoured that Apple would launch the new MacBook Air with an M2 chip at the March 8 event, but that did not happen. Now, renowned analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has predicted that the launch of the MacBook Air will take place later this year, but it might not use an M2 chip.

Kuo’s rumour falls in line with previous rumours that the MacBook Air is coming this year. Different rumours have suggested different timelines. Some said the March 8 event would be when the new MacBook Air would debut. Some reports hinted at a launch towards the second half of the year. Kuo has said the same thing, but he has not even provided a specific timeline yet. We can expect the launch to happen in October, but WWDC in June also seems like an opportune time.

The MacBook Air of 2022 will have an “all-new form factor design” and come in more colours, Kuo said. This is also in line with previous rumours. Last year, tipster Jon Prosser shared several renders of what he claimed was the new MacBook Air. It had a flat design very similar to that of the iPad Pro and the iPad Air. The existing MacBook Air comes in Silver, Space Grey, and Gold colours, but the new one may use the colour options, such as Starlight, Midnight, and Purple, of the newly announced Apple devices.

Kuo’s prediction around the launch timeline and the design of the next-generation MacBook Air corroborate previous rumours, but one thing that does not fall in line is the MacBook Air’s hardware. According to the analyst, the MacBook Air of 2022 may not come with an M2 chip after all. Instead, the laptop would use an M1 chip, but it may not be the same as the one used on the current MacBook Air.

Several rumours have so far hinted that the MacBook Air for this year will use an M2 chip, which would use 8 CPU cores and 10 GPU cores. Kuo, however, said Apple is likely to update the current M1 chip for better performance and graphics, meaning the upcoming MacBook Air will be slightly better than the current one. The M2 chip, according to Kuo, is not likely to arrive this year.

The MacBook Air this year may also not come with a miniLED panel, according to Kuo. Apple currently uses the miniLED technology, which uses small LEDs in the backlight for higher contrast ratios and deeper blacks than regular LCD, on the MacBook Pro and the iPad Pro. If the MacBook Air is not going to come with the miniLED panel, then it is possible that Apple will use an LCD instead.

Kuo believes that the MacBook Air 2022 will go into mass production in late Q2 2022 or Q3 2022.