The MacBook Air 2016 has been in the rumor mill as of late and now a new round of rumors have revived the highly touted Apple notebook. A new report claims that the MacBook Air may still come out and this could happen before the year comes to a close.
According to a report from DigiTimes, the Cupertino company still has plans to release a MacBook Air variant. The device will come with USB-C ports though it didn’t exactly give an exact date on when it could launch.
In a separate report from Mac Otakara, the Japanese blog believed that DigiTimes may have just gotten the release date wrong. In fact, it lines up Apple among its notebook rivals Asustek Computer and Hewlett-Packard in upgrading the old USB ports to the Type-C.
Despite the collaborated efforts of the two sites, DigiTimes has been inconsistent thus far despite holding close ties with supply chains. That includes claims that Apple would be coming out with ultra-thin 13-inch and 15-inch MacBooks by the second quarter of 2016. We are already in August and no MacBook has come out thus far.
They do have one more forecast that has yet to materialize. This has to do with the ultra-thin MacBooks with metal-injection-molded hinges which are pegged for possible release by the second half of 2016. The metal-injection-molded hinges are the same ones used for Microsoft’s Surface series, a part that accounts for the thin make of the notebook.
Moving forward, there is a possibility that DigiTimes may have mixed up the MacBook Air with the MacBook Pro, Mac Rumors reported. Between the two, the MacBook Pro is seen as more likely to be retained with the new USB-C ports.
Hence, there could be a MacBook Air or a MacBook Pro coming by year’s end. KGI Securities Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believed that Apple will be unveiling three new MacBooks before 2016 closes.
The three variants include a 13-inch MacBook that could come out between June to September while the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro models may be unveiled somewhere between September to December.
While the true plight of the MacBook Air remains to be seen, check out Xiaomi's alternative, the Mi Notebook Air.