A new MacBook Air that will launch next year will be Apple’s first entry-level Mac to offer a mini-LED Display, says TFI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
The information comes from Kuo’s latest investors notes, shared by MacRumors.
We expect that the new MacBook Air will adopt a mini LED in 2022, increasing MacBook’s mini LED adoption rate. In contrast, only high-end iPad models will use mini LED displays, and the overall growth momentum may be lower than that of MacBooks.
The 2022 MacBook Air will be powered by Apple Silicon, says Kuo. The analyst believes that Apple will be able to offset the increased cost of using mini-LED panels in its Macs because of the significantly lower cost of Apple Silicon chips versus that of Intel processors.
In today’s note, Kuo underlined how much suppliers can expect to benefit from Apple’s wider adoption of mini-LED as a result.
We expect the new MacBook Pro will boost the shipment of mini LED displays in 2H21 because the new MacBook Pro will equip with mini LED displays, and MacBook’s mini LED display is less challenging to produce than the iPad. We forecast that mini LED display shipments in 2021 and 2022 to be 10 million and 20–30 million, respectively.
Kuo told investors earlier this month that he expects Apple to launch 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, both sporting a new “flat-edged” look following Apple’s modern design language.
The new MacBook Pro models are expected to return to using MagSafe for Mac, and will drop the less-than-popular OLED Touch Bar in favor of physical function buttons, says Kuo.
The new models will also feature a wider variety of ports in addition to the current USB-C ports. While Kuo did not share exact specifications about the ports but said that he believes most users will no longer need to tote around converter dongles.
Kuo also said Apple will move the new models to heat pipe thermal designs similar to the current 16-inch MacBook Pro, enabling more headroom for high-performance, high-heat chips.