The much-rumored 12-inch MacBook Air is the star of a new leak, as some images have now surfaced allegedly showing its display assembly.
Rumors of a 12-inch MacBook Air set to launch this year have been making rounds for quite some time, and leaks are starting to intensify. Just a few days ago, word came out that Apple supplier Quanta Computer has started ramping up production of the device, bolstering claims that it would launch later in 2015.
As SlashGear points out, Chinese site iFanr has now posted some images of what it claims to be the display assembly for this purported 12-inch MacBook Air. More specifically, the photos in question allegedly show the display and metal shell of the upcoming machine. The images also show this alleged assembly alongside a 13-inch MacBook Pro and a 9.7-inch iPad, which seems to confirm the purported MacBook Air's rumored dimensions.
Compared to the current MacBook Air, however, the display of this alleged machine shows some significant differences. First of all, if these images turn out to be accurate, the upcoming 12-inch MacBook Air will no longer have the backlit Apple logo on the back of the display assembly, as found on Apple's notebooks so far. Instead, this device seems to have a polished metal logo more reminiscent of that found on iPads. According to iFanr, this change could be related to the thinness of this purported 12-inch MacBook Air.
Moreover, the display no longer features the grey bezels of current MacBook Air models. Instead, it seems to have an all-glass, edge-to-edge cover for the display, similar to that of MacBook Pro models. Combined with the black bezels underneath, if the screen is not turned on it's quite tough to determine just where the display ends and the bezels begin.
The upcoming 12-inch MacBook Air is expected to sport smaller bezels in order to accommodate a larger display size. At the same time, the newly-leaked images show a notably smaller footprint for the 12-inch MacBook Air compared to the existing 13-inch model.
Based on rumors and reports so far, the next-generation MacBook Air should boast a high-resolution display, which could be classified as Retina, and pack a new Intel Broadwell Core M processor under the hood. That processor should enable a thin, fanless design for the 12-inch MacBook Air.
Other reports, meanwhile, have suggested that the upcoming MacBook Air will also ditch the physical buttons on the trackpad, as well as nearly all ports typically found on Apple's MacBook lineup. The machine will reportedly include only a headphone jack, a couple of microphones, and a USB Type-C port that would handle both charging and external connections.
With no official word from Apple, however, nothing is confirmed at this point. This means that everything is still in the rumor state, and should be treated accordingly. Until a formal announcement, take all leaks, rumors and reports with a grain of salt.
