Recent reports suggest that Apple is planning to launch a 12-inch MacBook Air this year. Details are scarce although it’s reported to have several changes including a high-resolution ‘Retina’ display and a buttonless trackpad, while ditching the cooling fan.
A Weiphone poster has claimed that the company will be releasing new versions of its MacBook Air laptops around September, MacRumors reports.
A recent Apple patent confirms that the company has been working on a trackpad design that uses force sensors and actuator feedback and thus eliminating the need for a physical button.
However, this is not the first rumor about the new 12-inch MacBook Air, as this follows an NPD DisplaySearch report last October that forecast a 12-inch MacBook with a Retina-class display. Similar reports have already cropped up online last year including details from Ming-Chi Kuo, a KGI Securities analyst.
Kuo claimed that Apple would roll out a new 12-inch version of its MacBook laptop that combines the size advantage of the current 11-inch MacBook Air with the higher workload capability of the 13-inch MacBook Air.
Kuo has a strong track record of accurately predicting the company’s future product plans. Kuo’s predictions for Apple’s 2013 launch schedule made in January and forecast of Apple’s entire fall 2012 product lineup, have thus far proven accurate.
The tipster also confirmed that the company is working on the long-rumored iWatch with multiple health-monitoring and fitness-tracking features.
According to a translation provided by MacRumors, “An Apple watch device does exist but still in prototype stage, so its announcement won’t come anytime soon.”
MacRumors noted that anonymous forum poster has provided reliable information and images of unreleased MacBook hardware. This suggests that his revelations about the 12-inch MacBook Air and iWatch may indeed be accurate.
