Apple is apparently developing a high-end MacBook Air that could release later this year

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Nothing stays secret when it’s in Apple’s gargantuan supply chain, and new reports have surfaced the existence of an upcoming high-end MacBook Air. The redesign is supposedly thinner and lighter and brings back the MagSafe charging connector in some form.

The latest report comes from often-accurate Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, and outlines a device with two USB-C ports, and powered by a more powerful version of Apple’s M1 chip. It might be a refresh of the M1 chip, with the same number of computing cores, running at a faster speed. The other expected improvement will be a move to nine or ten graphics cores, up from the seven or eight that the existing M1 chip features.

We’ve also recently seen serial leaker Jon Prosser predict that the new MacBook Air will come in multiple color options, which almost cover the same colors the new M1 Macs come in. His renders were based on leaked images of the upcoming MacBook Air, and show a smaller, slimmer, but squared-off design with larger function keys, and a smaller trackpad.

The change to a more squared-off design in the style of the larger MacBooks or the iPad Pro range makes it possible for Apple to reduce the thickness of the MacBook Air, as components can be distributed more widely than in the iconic tapered design of the current model.

Maybe the redesign will also feature a mini-LED screen or the return of the MagSafe charging port. We probably won’t have long to wait, as both Gurman and Prosser think the release window will be later this year, unless it slips to early 2022.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.