Apple unveils new MacBook Air laptop with latest M3 chip

Apple on Monday unveiled new versions of its 13- and 15-inch MacBook Air laptops equipped with the latest M3 chips.

Apple announced the M3 chip in October in more powerful versions for iMac desktop computers and MacBook Pro laptops. Apple recorded Mac sales of 7.78 billion dollars in its financial results report for the first quarter of the fiscal year, but that increase was less than 1%. The latest computers may boost the company's sales.

According to Apple, the new MacBook Air laptop has a sharper 1080p webcam, support for faster Wi-Fi networks, and a maximum battery life of 18 hours. The design is no different from the old model, and the new M3 chip allows users to add up to 2 external displays, and has been improved from the single screen that the previous chip supported.

Apple has shown with this announcement that it is strengthening marketing related to artificial intelligence.

The new MacBook Air was called “the world's best consumer laptop compatible with AI.” When the iMac equipped with the M3 was announced in October, Apple did not touch on that, so this is an interesting change of language, but it shows that they are trying to compete with a new Windows laptop called an “AI PC.”

Still, the most popular AI platforms, such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude, do not run directly on computers, but operate on the cloud via an internet connection. Apps like Pixelmator Pro can use AI to remove background noise from photos, Apple said.

Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook (CEO) once again expressed on February 28 that Apple is making a “large-scale investment” in artificial intelligence, and foretold that there will be a major announcement later this year. It may take place at the Worldwide Developer Conference in June, where Apple usually announces new software. There is also a possibility that Apple will announce its own large-scale language model that runs locally on Macs and other devices such as iPhones and iPads.

The 13-inch MacBook Air starts at $1,099, and the 15-inch one starts at $1,299. It can be ordered from Monday, and is scheduled to hit stores from 3/8.