New MacBook Air Reportedly Set for Launch in Second Half of 2022

A new DigiTimes report today focused on notebook shipments briefly mentions that Apple plans to launch a new MacBook Air in the second half of 2022, which lines up with a timeframe shared by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman earlier this month.

The relevant excerpt from the report, which cites supply chain sources:

Apple's MacBook series are high-end consumer devices, but can also be regarded as a business notebook model as they are favored by many companies or office workers, the sources indicated, adding that hot sales of MacBook Pro released in late 2021 have lingered into the first quarter of 2022, with shipment volumes higher than expected, and new MacBook Air set for launch in the second half of the year is expected to add further sales momentum.

The new MacBook Air will feature a slightly larger 13.6-inch display versus the current 13.3-inch model, display industry consultant Ross Young said in a tweet last week.

While several sources have claimed the new MacBook Air will feature an M2 chip with an 8-core CPU and 9-core or 10-core GPU options, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo expects the notebook to have an M1 chip still, according to a list of predictions he tweeted in early March. In an email, Kuo told MacRumors that the new MacBook Air could have a modified M1 chip, and while he did not specify further, the rumored extra GPU cores are certainly possible.

Kuo's tweet said the new MacBook Air would also have an all-new design with additional color options, and enter mass production in the late second quarter or third quarter of 2022. Unlike the latest 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, Kuo does not expect the new MacBook Air to feature a mini-LED display, meaning ProMotion is unlikely.