After Apple pulled down the non-Retina 13-inch MacBook Pro from shelves just a couple of weeks ago, rumors that the company would stop refreshing the MacBook Air series next have also refused to die down.
In May, KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo — who is known for correctly forecasting the moves of the Cupertino company — predicted that the 11- and 13-inch MacBook Air would no longer receive any upgrades and would simply be relegated to an entry-level status.
This has raised speculation that the MacBook Air series would be axed for good.
MacBook Pro 2016 As The New Flagship Model
The MacBook Air remains well loved for its reliability and consumer-friendly pricing. But the future of the lineup looks bleak if one considers how major changes seen in the MacBook Pro 2016 seem to herald the latter as the new flagship model.
Deemed the sleekest Apple laptop to date, this year's MacBook Pro, available in 13- and 15-inch models, is said to deploy:
• NFC chip technology
• Touch ID fingerprint scanning
• An OLED touchbar in place of traditional function keys
• USB-C / Thunderbolt
• Wireless charging
• Intel's latest Skylake processors
The MacBook Pro 2016 is slated for release just before the holiday shopping season in the fourth quarter — if not earlier, in September, side by side another highly anticipated device, the iPhone 7. (Apple has yet to officially announce the date.)
Goodbye, MacBook Air?
The MacBook Air, on the other hand, still dons the same design from 2010, and only had an upgrade of its RAM early last year as its most previous tweak. After that, not much has been offered to amp up the product line.
But given the MacBook Air's relatively budget-friendly price tag of $899 and its uncompromising performance, it just might live on sans any update, as Mashable's Christina Warren points out. After all, Apple has a reputation of continuing products even after their final hardware revamp.
One funny thing to note from Tim Cook, though, is how he believes that the real successor to the MacBook Air isn't even a laptop — it's the iPad Pro.
Still, there's no denying that it is the MacBook Pro this year that will take center stage, and the world is eagerly awaiting its big reveal.
With the MacBook Pro's branding as the thinnest and most portable Apple laptop to date, many industry observers believe the arrival of the MacBook Pro 2016 indeed signals the demotion of the MacBook Air — and possibly even its demise.
