Redesigned MacBook Air to begin production next summer

In his latest report to investors, the well-known and widely respected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo writes that he now expects Apple to start mass production of the next redesigned MacBook Air in the late second or early third quarter of 2022 – in the middle of summer next year, in other words.

The analyst does not have any new information about the laptop itself. But he has previously claimed that the next MacBook Air will have an entirely new chassis design that’s similar to the latest MacBook Pro. The ‘major redesign’ theory has also been supported by Bloomberg pundit Mark Gurman.

Kuo does add the new prediction that Apple will cut production of all MacBook models by about 15% in 2022 as a result of component shortages. The company’s plans have also been influenced by an anticipated reduction in demand for laptops, he says. As millions of workers return to the office, fewer people will need to buy a computer to work from home, AppleInsider notes.

(We would observe in passing that business demand may rise as employees discover that the office machines they depended on before the lockdown have since become 12 or 18 months further down the path to obsolescence. But Apple clearly doesn’t expect this to make up for the drop in consumer/home demand.)

Kuo is an important and trusted voice in the Apple pundit community, but he certainly isn’t infallible: the analyst monitoring site AppleTrack currently rates him with an accuracy of 74.6%, well below rivals such as Gurman (87.3%) and OnLeaks (78.6%). So while the broader assessment of Apple’s strategy is likely to be spot on, the precise details and timings may not.

You can catch all the latest leaks and rumours in our new MacBook Air hub, which will be updated regularly until the announcement. In the meantime, and if you don’t feel like waiting until next year, pick up a bargain on the current models with our roundup of the best MacBook Air deals.

This article originally appeared on Macworld Sweden. Translation (using DeepL) and additional reporting by David Price.