MacBook Air 2016 Release Date: Apple To Kill Air Due To Redundancy?

MacBook Air had this coming. Apple is likely to kill the 'Air' brand this year and instead restrict its laptop offerings to MacBook and MacBook Pro.

Two recent happenings have led to the speculated conclusion that Apple would do away with Air. First, is the widely reported rumor, backed by analyst forecasts, that Apple is releasing two new versions of MacBook Pro; thin 13-inch and 15-inch with top of line specs.

Word has it that Apple can make these two laptops as thin as last year's MacBook Pro thinner than the MacBook Air, which is a year older. If Apple can make all its offering thin and light, the question that begs to be asked is how does a brand differentiator work without cannibalising sales?

Jack March, who had predicted the coming of last year's 12-inch MacBook, asks this question.

"It's also obvious that buyers of the MacBook Air no longer have weight as their primary priority, otherwise they'd buy the 12" MacBook, or a thinner Windows laptop like the HP Spectre," March writes. "Most people are buying it either because it's a cheap Mac, for the slanted keyboard 2, or because it's halfway between the 12" MacBook and the MacBook Pro in terms of performance/portability."

Last year's MacBook was originally expected to be sold as 12-inch MacBook Air but Apple did not upgrade the Air.

That a laptop has to be thin and light is a de-facto consumer requirement. Given Apple's obsession with design and style, users of the company's products do not expect their purchases to be anything but thin.

Second, the release of 9.7-inch iPad Pro is a harbinger to what might happened to MacBook Air. Apple skipped the Air in iPads branding though a revamped iPad Air was highly anticipated. Considering that Apple did not upgrade MacBook Air last year with retina display and refraining from announcing an iPad Air this year, it is likely that Apple would kill 'Air' this year.