14 DAY TRIAL // Authorized Apple resellers are reporting that their MacBook Air stocks are beginning to deplete, in what is a usual sign that points to a refresh. Apple is expected to introduce new models at WWDC in June, but they might not be equipped with Retina displays.
Resellers Amazon, B&H, MacConnection, MacMall, and J&R are all confirming that Apple is adjusting MacBook Air shipments as we’re moving closer and closer to the company’s annual developer event, the Worldwide Developers Conference.
While WWDC is typically reserved for major software upgrades, Apple is also known to throw in hardware announcements, and this year all eyes are on the MacBook line of notebooks.
Numerous sources say the next-generation MacBook Air will be upgraded with Intel’s new Haswell processors and, while this is good news in and of itself, there’s still a lot of room in the ultra-thin notebook to make the upgrade even more appealing.
A Retina display would bring some feature parity between the MacBook Air line and the Pro range of Apple notebooks, but the Cupertino giant isn’t expected to ship a Retina MacBook Air until fall 2013.
Sharp is reportedly the first panel maker in Apple’s supply chain to be able to provide a continuous stream of Retina displays that would fit the slim laptops, but mass production won’t kick off until June.
As such, any potential MacBook Air upgrades announced at WWDC are likely to include only under-the-hood speed bumps, such as a higher-clocked CPU and better graphics.
RAM and storage aren’t likely to see any upgrades in the base MacBook Air configuration this year. In short, expect a new MacBook Air range with nothing more than a faster CPU/GPU assembly.
WWDC 2013 is set to kick off on June 10 and will last until June 14. The event will be hosted at San Francisco’s Moscone Center.