Apple Could Unveil M3-Powered MacBook Air During Second Half Of 2023

Hot on the heels of new Macs released from Apple, industry insiders are already talking about the next exciting Apple Silicon chip to be placed in a MacBook. According to Taiwanese publication DigiTimes, the tech giant is planning to launch an updated MacBook Air with an M3 chipset in the second half of this year.

The report claims that the new thin-and-light from Apple will debut the third generation of Apple’s in-house SoCs based on next-gen 3nm node technology. This would — in theory — give the laptop vastly better performance as well as more power efficiency compared to the 5nm technology on the M2 chip.

“The supply chain is more focused on the more affordable MacBook Air, which is expected to be updated in the second half of 2023 and may be equipped with a 3nm processor,” according to the report. Aside from the rough launch timeframe, it does not provide any more information about the purported new MacBook Air, such as possible design changes or other improvements.

TSMC, Apple’s long-time chip partner, already kickstarted mass production of 3nm chips for the world’s most valuable company last December in southern Taiwan. Experts speculate that the new technology will be used in both Apple’s M3 lineup as well as its A17 bionic chipset for the iPhone 15.

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I expect the next new MacBook Pro models, which will adopt M3 Pro/M3 Max processors made by 3nm (likely TSMC's N3P or N3S), will go to mass production in 1H24. https://t.co/8JR4LOHFVs

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— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) January 17, 2023

In related news, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo speculates that Apple will unveil new MacBook Pros in 2024, equipped with higher-end M3 Pro and M3 Max chips. Separately, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman claimed last week that an Apple laptop with a touchscreen might be in the works, but don’t expect it to hit the shelves anytime soon.

While it’s quite exciting to think about seeing a 3nm chip in a consumer device so soon, readers should take DigiTime’s report with a grain of salt as it was authored by the same people who earlier claimed that M2 Pro and M2 Max chips had been delayed by Apple, which was ultimately and recently proven to be incorrect.

(Source: Digitimes via MacRumors)

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