There's good news and bad news for MacBook Air fans.
The good news is, the M4 MacBook Air could launch soon. The bad news is, that Apple may be shaking up the MacBook Air lineup by retiring an unexpected model.
The M4 MacBook Air could launch soon... but there's a trade-off
Apple has several products in the pipeline for 2025, but we're expecting the M4 MacBook Air to be among the first new devices launched this year, possibly as early as March.
In that launch Apple might make a surprising lineup tweak. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple could be retiring the M3 MacBook Air and keeping the M2 MacBook Air as the budget alternative to the new M4 Air.
That's a surprising departure from Apple's normal rotation. When the M3 MacBook Air launched last year, Apple retired the M1 Air. Keeping the oldest MacBook Air in the lineup.
Gurman theorized that Apple could be using this tactic to avoid manufacturing challenges the M3 chip has faced. That might not be the only reason for keeping the M2 MacBook Air around, though.
The M2 chip is a much more significant step down from the M4 chip than the M3 chip is. So, Apple may be hoping to nudge more customers to buy the newer, more expensive MacBook Air rather than go with the previous year's model to save some money.
While we won't know for sure whether or not Apple is going to retire the M3 MacBook Air before the M2 Air, there are hints that this could be the direction Apple is heading. For instance, in late 2024, Apple upgraded the base RAM in all of its MacBooks, including the M2 MacBook Air, which could be a signal that Apple plans on keeping the M2 Air around a bit longer.
The question is, should anyone even bother buying a new M2 MacBook Air in 2025?
Will the M2 MacBook Air still be worth it in 2025?
If Apple does decide to keep the M2 MacBook Air around instead of the M3 Air when it launches the M4 MacBook Air, I'd advise caution before buying an M2 model. The M2 MacBook Air is a few years old at this point and you can get a newer laptop with better specs for a similar price.
Right now, the M2 Air starts at $999. That's a hefty price tag for a laptop from 2022, especially considering that the base configuration includes a measly 256GB of storage. You shouldn't settle for less than 512GB of storage, period. Apple would have to give the M2 MacBook Air a serious price cut to make it a reasonable buy in 2025.
It's also important to keep in mind that just because Apple isn't selling a certain MacBook model anymore, that doesn't mean you won't be able to find it elsewhere.
Major retailers like Best Buy and Amazon will likely continue to carry the M3 MacBook Air for a while even after it's no longer available directly from Apple. Plus, those retailers are also more likely to offer the best deals on MacBooks, so you could potentially get an M3 MacBook Air for less than Apple is selling the M2 MacBook Air for.
Of course, this MacBook Air roadmap isn't set in stone yet. We'll have to wait and see what Apple ultimately decides to do, but we'll also be keeping a close eye on M4 MacBook Air rumors and news until then, so stay tuned for more updates.
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