2018 MacBook Air could use Intel’s Kaby Lake processors

The 2018 MacBook Air is expected to use Intel’s Kaby Lake processors that were first introduced in 2017. The decision to use the year-old processors comes as Intel’s faster Whiskey Lake processor isn’t expected to be ready in time for a Fall release, according to Taiwan’s Economic Daily News.

Assuming this report is correct, the new MacBook Air would see a significant speed bump over the current model, which was released in June 2017. This wouldn’t come as much of a surprise.

Kaby Lake chips offer quad-core Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors with base clock speeds between 1.6GHz and 1.9GHz and maximum Turbo Boost speeds of between 3.4GHz and 4.2GHz. Meanwhile, the 15W chips feature integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620, with support for up to 32GB of DDR4 or LPDDR3 RAM.

By contrast, the current MacBook Air lineup uses Intel’s fifth-generation, dual-core Core i5, and Core i7 processors, which were released in 2015. The recently introduced 2018 MacBook Pro uses Intel’s Coffee Lake processors.

Despite today’s news, it isn’t clear whether Apple plans on continuing to use the MacBook Air name after this year or merely expand the MacBook lineup. The MacBook Air, which was first launched in 2008, became Apple’s least expensive laptop when the refreshed MacBook arrived in 2015.

The MacBook Air remains the only Mac not to ship with a Retina display.

Beside a MacBook refresh, this year should also see the arrival of a new Mac mini and iMac. On the mobile front, we should also see three new iPhones announced alongside two new iPad Pro models and a fourth-generation Apple Watch.

Which Fall 2018 Apple product are you most excited about seeing? Let us know in the comments below.