15-Inch MacBook Air Teardown Reveals Familiar Design and Upgraded Six-Speaker Sound System

Repair website iFixit today shared a 15-inch MacBook Air teardown on YouTube, offering a closer look inside the laptop. As expected, the 15-inch MacBook Air has a similar internal design as the 13-inch model, with the only notable difference being two extra speakers.

iFixit 15 Inch MacBook Air Teardown

Image Credit: iFixit

"The new 15-inch MacBook Air also features a phenomenal new six-speaker sound system with two tweeters and two sets of force-cancelling woofers," said Apple. "The new speakers deliver twice the bass depth for fuller sound, and Spatial Audio with support for Dolby Atmos provides immersive experiences whether listening to music or watching movies."

The battery is also larger, but Apple says battery life is equal to the 13-inch model. As with the 13-inch model, the battery cells have adhesive pull tabs for easier removal, but the battery can only be accessed after several other components are disassembled.


The teardown offers a look at the 15-inch MacBook Air's logic board with the M2 chip and a single NAND chip for the 256GB model, which can result in slower SSD read and write speeds compared to 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB models.

Like other Apple laptops, iFixit said the 15-inch MacBook Air is very difficult to repair. In addition, RAM and storage cannot be upgraded after purchase.

Key advantages of the 15-inch MacBook Air over the 13-inch model include a larger display, larger trackpad, and six speakers instead of four. Both models have the M2 chip for equal performance, and very similar battery life. Apple began accepting orders for the 15-inch MacBook Air last week, and the laptop launched on Tuesday.

Related Roundup: MacBook Air
Related Forum: MacBook Air

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Available Next Month With These 8 New Features

Tuesday November 11, 2025 9:48 am PST by
Apple released the first iOS 26.2 beta last week. The upcoming update includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, including a new Liquid Glass slider for the Lock Screen's clock, offline lyrics in Apple Music, and more. In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 26.2 will be released to all users in December, but it did not provide a specific release date....
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, and AirPods 4

Thursday November 13, 2025 11:35 am PST by
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3, the AirPods 4, and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 firmware is 8B21, all up from the prior 8A358 firmware released in October. There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 4 with ANC, and AirPods Pro 3...
m1 chip slide

Five Years of Apple Silicon: M1 to M5 Performance Comparison

Monday November 10, 2025 1:08 pm PST by
Today marks the fifth anniversary of the Apple silicon chip that replaced Intel chips in Apple's Mac lineup. The first Apple silicon chip, the M1, was unveiled on November 10, 2020. The M1 debuted in the MacBook Air, Mac mini, and 13-inch MacBook Pro. The M1 chip was impressive when it launched, featuring the "world's fastest CPU core" and industry-leading performance per watt, and it's only ...
iphone pocket%402x

Apple Debuts iPhone Pocket, a Limited Edition iPod Sock-Style Accessory

Tuesday November 11, 2025 1:23 am PST by
Apple has teamed up with Japanese fashion house ISSEY MIYAKE to launch iPhone Pocket, a 3D-knitted limited edition accessory designed to carry an iPhone, AirPods, and other everyday items. The accessory is like a stretchy pocket, not unlike an iPod Sock, but elongated to form a strap made of a ribbed, elastic textile that fully encloses an iPhone yet allows you to glimpse the display...
homepod mini colors

New HomePod Mini Coming Soon With These Features

Tuesday November 11, 2025 7:30 am PST by
Apple is expected to announce a new HomePod mini imminently, headlining with new chips. Here are all of the new features we're expecting. The second-generation HomePod mini is highly likely to contain a more up-to-date chip for more advanced computational audio and improved responsiveness. The current HomePod mini is equipped with the Apple Watch Series 5's S5 chip from 2019. Apple is likely ...
CarPlay Pinned Messages

iOS 26.2 Adds New CarPlay Setting

Thursday November 13, 2025 6:48 am PST by
iOS 26 extended pinned conversations in the Messages app to CarPlay, for quick access to your most frequent chats. However, some drivers may prefer the classic view with a list of individual conversations only, and Apple now lets users choose. Apple released the second beta of iOS 26.2 this week, and it introduces a new CarPlay setting for turning off pinned conversations in the Messages...
homepod mini thumb feature

New HomePod Mini, Apple TV, and AirTag Were Expected This Year — Where Are They?

Wednesday November 12, 2025 11:42 am PST by
While it was rumored that Apple planned to release new versions of the HomePod mini, Apple TV, and AirTag this year, it is no longer clear if that will still happen. Back in January, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple planned to release new HomePod mini and Apple TV models "toward the end of the year," while he at one point expected a new AirTag to launch "around the middle of 2025." Yet,...
ios 26 digital id passport wallet

Apple Announces Launch of U.S. Passport Feature in iPhone's Wallet App

Wednesday November 12, 2025 9:15 am PST by
Apple today announced that iPhone users can now create a Digital ID in the Apple Wallet app based on information from their U.S. passport. To create and present a Digital ID based on a U.S. passport, you need: An iPhone 11 or later running iOS 26.1 or later, or an Apple Watch Series 6 or later running watchOS 26.1 or later Face ID or Touch ID and Bluetooth turned on An Apple Account ...
Tesla Charging

Tesla Working to Add Apple CarPlay Support to Vehicles

Thursday November 13, 2025 8:31 am PST by
Tesla is working to add support for Apple CarPlay in its vehicles, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports. Tesla vehicles rely on its own infotainment software system, which integrates vehicle functions, navigation, music, web browsing, and more. The automaker has been an outlier in foregoing support for Apple CarPlay, which has otherwise become an industry standard feature, allowing users to...
iphone air thinness

iPhone Air Sales Are So Bad That Apple's Delaying the Next-Generation Version

Monday November 10, 2025 11:41 am PST by
The thin, light iPhone Air sold so poorly that Apple has decided to delay the launch of the next-generation iPhone Air that was scheduled to come out alongside the iPhone 18 Pro, reports The Information. Apple initially planned to release a new iPhone Air in fall 2026, but now that's not going to happen. Since the iPhone Air launched in September, there have been reports of poor sales...

Top Rated Comments

zorinlynx Avatar
32 months ago
That crappy battery replacement experience is exactly why we need regulations to force companies to make it easier to swap batteries. There's NO VALID REASON they had to make the battery so hard to replace. Layering components in a different order and it'd be cake. They just don't want end users replacing them, pure and simple.
Score: 44 Votes (Like | Disagree)
k1121j Avatar
32 months ago
The ssd at 256GB is just sad for two reasons, 256GB in 2023 is crazy small. Apple overcharging the upgrade on memory and storage is also sad. Come on Apple Steve would not be impressed I can think of multiple quotes of his.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jlc1978 Avatar
32 months ago

That crappy battery replacement experience is exactly why we need regulations to force companies to make it easier to swap batteries. There's NO VALID REASON they had to make the battery so hard to replace. Layering components in a different order and it'd be cake. They just don't want end users replacing them, pure and simple.
Actually, there may be valid design decisions involving how components are layered, from both a product and assembly POV. It's not as simple as just change the order of the layers.


The ssd at 256GB is just sad for two reasons, 256GB in 2023 is crazy small. Apple overcharging the upgrade on memory and storage is also sad.
256, at the entry level, is more than enough for most of those buyers.


Come on Apple Steve would not be impressed I can think of multiple quotes of his.
Had the IC tech that exists today been available and affordable for mass market devices, during Steve's tenure as CEO we'd seen the same decisions being made than as today.


I hope Apple has enough capacity to crank out millions of these laptops. This is THE laptop to buy, and will make for some very profitable quarters ahead. My only issue - get RID of the 256 configuration, it only exists allow them to quote a lower ‘starting at’ price. Anyone that knows anything about laptops would never get that model, insufficient memory AND slower.
A lower price point makes for an attractive entry point for many users who only want to do some web surfing, check emails, have some photos to edit in Photos, and maybe use Office. 256 is plenty for light users, whop will notice no impact from a slower memory bandwidth.

Techies are obsessed with specs and think their use case is the same for everyone.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Joe Rossignol Avatar
32 months ago

They definitely could have fit bigger batteries in there , sad

Then again, there's the lightweight argument

So the battery isn't larger than the 13-inch?
Added a sentence to the MacRumors story to clarify this: "The battery is also larger, but Apple says battery life is equal to the 13-inch model."
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
32 months ago
Did anyone catch this from the MacBook Air 15" render? A little strange!

[MEDIA=twitter]1669446428240801794[/MEDIA]
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DEMinSoCAL Avatar
32 months ago

At $1299... Apple would add another $100 for a better 99Whr battery.
Better yet, make a bigger battery an option and charge $200 (Apple's favorite number) to upgrade. :)
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)