Contrary to rumors, Apple is not about to refresh the MacBook Air and no upgrades of the line will be seen at the WWDC 2017. "Apple's MacBook Air line is effectively dead," a report said.
According to BGR, a Foxconn insider has hinted that the once hugely popular Apple laptop is set to be discontinued and there will be no new versions to unveil via the WWDC 2017 that will start this week. Foxconn, of course, is Apple's biggest manufacturing partner in China.
The same report noted that the last MacBook Air upgrade was deployed in 2015. It's expected though that Apple will continue selling the remaining stocks of the product but there was indication if the sticker price, already chopped off, will be further reduced.
The projection makes sense as Apple has been gradually retiring the Air line with the iPad Air first to go, replaced by the iPad Pro. The focus now seems trained on further growing the product lines that cater to professionals and general consumers. It's expected that there will be more devices from the tech giant that highlight the Pro and Light labels.
And as opposed to the Air line, the report said Apple's Pro-labeled tablets and laptops are without unnecessary compromises, specifically in terms of performance. At the same time, the MacBook Pro, for instance, can be engineered to be both powerful and light, which is not the case for the MacBook Air.
"I think it's pretty obvious at this point that Apple will never release a new product with the Air branding again," the report quoted analyst Jane March as saying. March seems convinced that Apple has realized the niche market created by the MacBook Air has already run its full course.
Speculations are rife that Apple is set to make known new Macs and MacBooks via the WWDC 2017. Report said the MacBook Pro will get significant specs bumps, headlined by the use of Intel Kaby Lake-X processor as the laptop's main engine.
Also set for unveiling is the 2017 version of the 12-inch MacBook that essentially will become the new MacBook Air, alongside with the 10.5-inch iPad Pro and Siri Speaker.