Volume production of Apple’s budget 13-inch Retina MacBook Air has reportedly been delayed until the second half of 2018.
According to sources in Apple’s supply chain (via DigiTimes), the Cupertino company has delayed assembly of the laptop, pushing production back until the third quarter of 2018 despite earlier reports that suggested Apple would unveil the computer at their annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June.
“Some MacBook Air supply chain players who have readied full inventories of materials to support second-quarter production will face low capacity utilization before starting to deliver shipments in the third quarter,” the report claims.
The reason for the delay is unknown, although some Apple partners have speculated that it could be due to problems with some crucial components.
“Apple has informed supply chain partners that mass production of its new notebook model for 2018 will not kick off until the second half of the year, yet without explaining the rescheduling move. Some partners speculated that the postponement might be caused by problems with some key components such as processors,” the report explains.
The upcoming MacBook, which Digitimes refers to as a “budget-type MacBook Air” despite earlier speculation it would replace Apple’s skinny laptop line-up, is expected to pack a Retina display. Previous rumours claim this display will be an LG-made a-SI panel with a resolution of 2560 x 1600, trumping the MacBook Air’s current 1440 x 900 panel.
DigiTimes further reckons that the price is likely to be dropped by $100 USD or even $200 compared to the current cheapest MacBook Air.
