“There’s something in the Air” — image credit: Apple
Apple CEO Tim Cook has once more taken to X/Twitter to announce when the next new device is coming, and while he avoids saying its full name, it’s the MacBook Air.
Just as he did with his announcement that the iPhone 16e was to be the next member of the iPhone family, Tim Cook’s Twitter feed has now added when to expect the next launch. With the iPhone 16e, he specified the actual launch date, but now he’s saying only “this week.”
Or rather, the only timescale he’s sharing is “this week.” He does also say that “there’s something in the Air,” with a very definite emphasis on that last word as it is sliced by a very fast-moving device.
It’s just that Apple has both a MacBook Air and an iPad Air — and both of them are expected soon.
Under Cook’s “this week” message, the accompanying six-second video promo consists of a series of the strapline about there being something in the Air, set to a pop-rock riff. It’s too short for even Shazam to identity the music, so if there’s a clue in the tune, you have to already know the track to figure it out.
You also have to step through the video frame by frame to adequately see that the word “Air” has been cut through. Even then, the device that does it is moving so fast that it looks like a slab of metal.
Freeze frame of the promo, showing “Air” being sliced through by what looks like a MacBook Air
However, it’s a slab of metal that appears to have a black line through it. Compared to the solid side of an iPad, this looks like a MacBook Air with its clamshell lid closed.
Plus, there is one slim clue in the use of this particular phrase. These words are the same ones Steve Jobs used on a slide for the 2008 launch of the original MacBook Air.
Then, too, the last time the MacBook Air was updated was March 4, 2024, so a launch this week would be on the first anniversary of that M3 edition.
Whereas the iPad Air was last updated on May 8, 2024, with the addition of a 13-inch model.
So the odds are close to certain that Cook’s “Air” teaser is about the MacBook Air. But for a least a little while, Apple’s happy to have us wonder whether we’ll get both the MacBook Air and the iPad Air.
What’s expected in the new MacBook Air
The updated MacBook Air is presumed to be chiefly the same as the 2024 model, but for the addition of an M4 processor. Externally, the new version should have the same chassis design.
While it is expected to get the M4 processor, the new model is not believed to be getting either the M4 Pro, or the M4 Max versions. Those are instead to be reserved for the MacBook Pro range.
