Forget the new MacBook Pro, Apple has something better

What’s one of the biggest, literally missing features of the MacBook Air? How about a bigger screen?

Unlike the MacBook Pro family, the MacBook Air is locked into a single screen size. If you want a macOS laptop with a larger screen, you have to go for the more expensive and, in all likelihood, overpowered MacBook Pro. That’s the pick today, but if you want a better option, you might want to wait. Apple has big plans for 2023.

Apple’s iPhone portfolio has expanded over the past decade to include more price points, more features, and more models. That certainly helped with sales, but it also makes the buying decision a more personal experience, although the options still tend to scale all at once… if you want a bigger phone you’ll have to go up a model. This model also has higher specifications, probably more memory and a more powerful processor. You can’t just improve one feature and leave the rest as is.

The same is true in the Mac world, especially Apple’s laptops. If you want a more powerful processor, go to the next step in the portfolio, which means more processing power, higher-end features, and higher costs. The à la carte approach to the Windows PC market hardly exists at Apple.

But that simple sliding scale of “better laptops” will be challenged later this year with the launch of a new MacBook Air.

This MacBook Air will deliver something that fans of Apple’s consumer-focused laptop have repeatedly asked for. A bigger screen. Apple is reportedly making these new laptops and the new display components right now.

Why is this new MacBook Air so interesting? Because these reports also suggest that Apple is offering the 15-inch MacBook Air with the same Apple Silicon M2 chipset as the 13-inch MacBook Air models. If you currently want a larger-screen MacBook, you have no choice but to jump to the 14-inch or 16-inch MacBook Pro models with the old-style jumps in specs and performance.

The 15-inch MacBook Air looks like a simple display swap. No doubt there will be a price increase for the larger display, but there won’t be a higher cost as Apple is throwing in some faster widgets to add to the bucks on the sticker.

A quick sidebar; Some reports suggest that Apple could add an option to this 15-inch MacBook Air to upgrade the processor to the MacBook Pro family’s M2 Pro chipset. If that’s the only 15-inch option, it would be an odd choice from Apple. Should that happen, I’m hoping Apple offers both the M2 and M2 Pro for a larger MacBook Air.

With the upcoming MacBook Air, Apple is expanding the Mac laptop lineup to give consumers more choice at every price point. Although Apple’s approach is still far less modular or option-heavy than the competition, this change will be welcomed by many. Assuming the 15-inch option is just the bigger screen and no frills are added to raise the price.

Read the latest MacBook, iPhone and App Store news now in Forbes weekly Apple Loop column…