12-inch Apple MacBook Air rumored to enter production in early 2015

Apple’s MacBook Air line of laptops currently comprises of devices with just two screen sizes – 11″ and 13″. However, they may soon be joined by an intermediary model, a MacBook Air with a 12-inch screen.

This has previously been rumored to enter production in the fall of 2014, which obviously hasn’t happened. Now though, a new rumor out of Asia says that we should expect factories to start making the 12-inch notebook in the first quarter of next year.

So mass production should start somewhere between January and March, if the infamous “sources from the upstream supply chain” are correct. Apparently a “pilot production” was already attempted “at the end of 2014″, so not long ago. This must have gone well, since there’s now a schedule set for mass production.

The new 12-inch MacBook Air is said to be using Intel’s upcoming Broadwell processors, and it will also sport a new chassis design, which is intended to make it thinner and lighter than the two models which are already on sale. The start of mass production has so far been put off by low yield rates, but these are gradually being resolved.

The manufacturer of the laptop is alleged to be Quanta Computer, though the company hasn’t confirmed that. The new MacBook will be a high-end offering, which means we should expect it to only have “limited shipments”.

As usual with such rumors, make sure you don’t take everything you’ve just read for granted. These sources have been wrong in the past.

Source | Via