It's official. The MacBook Air is totally dead. Long live the almighty MacBook Pro. Reports have just surfaced, confirming that Apple just killed the MacBook Air and replaced it with a (slightly) more affordable MacBook Pro model.
Differences between the two MacBooks
Now, what is the difference between the brand new 13-inch MacBook Pro and the recently terminated MacBook Air? Firstly, The MacBook Pro now features two ThunderBolt 3 ports, which replaces the previously old-school USB ports. It is also incorporated with a much upgraded Skylake processor, which offers a vastly improved performance, especially when it comes to dealing with graphically intensive applications.
Other features
On the graphics side of things, it features a 13.3-inch Retina display, which is backed up with an Intel Iris 540 Graphics card. It also includes the 2nd generation butterfly keyboard mechanism - with the traditional function keys instead of a Touch Bar - as well as a Force Touch trackpad. This comes as no surprise as the 13-inch MacBook Pro is already known to not feature the Touch Bar. This model will set you back $1,499.
Why Apple killed the MacBook Air
Though many have seen it coming, Apple has taken the decision to retire the 11-inch MacBook Air, which does actually makes a lot of sense. It's not too far off from the mid-level Retina MacBook, both in terms of price and form factor, but officially getting rid of it will vastly streamline Apple's product line even further.
MacBook Airs still on sale
Some earlier rumors regarding the discontinuation of the 11-inch MacBook Air mainly originated from Japanese site Mac Otakara. According to some reports, Apple will continue to sell the remaining MacBook Air laptops while stocks last, but it has already been confirmed that there will certainly be no more hardware refresh ever again once stocks have been sold out. The MacBook Air will forever be in our hearts, but it's time to move one and think about the future.
