Apple may launch a MacBook Air with new keyboard next week

If the latest leaks are to be believed, the MacBook Air may arrive as soon as next week, which means the week of March 15.

Apple MacBook Air. (Apple)

Apple analyst Ming Chi-Kuo recently said that the company could launch a new MacBook Air with scissor-switch style keyboard in the second quarter of 2020. However, if the latest leaks are to be believed, the MacBook Air may arrive as soon as next week, which means the week of March 15. That is around two weeks early than April 1, when the Q2 2020 officially begins. As mentioned by Macrumours, the tipster was apparently accurate with the iPad Mini and iPad Air devices.

Unfortunately, there is no other information mentioned about the upcoming MacBook Air.

It is worth adding that the company refreshed its MacBook Air model in October last year with a TouchID sensor, True tone display and the infamous Butterfly-style keyboard. The existing 13-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models come with Butterfly-style keyboards, which hasn't received much praise by users as it is said to have sticky and unresponsive keys after prolonged use. The company switched back to scissor-style keyboard with the 16-inch MacBook Pro.

That said, Apple might not upgrade the MacBook Pro laptop just yet considering it was launched just a few months ago with the new scissor-switch keyboard.

Kuo has also revealed that the upcoming MacBook models may have ARM architecture-based processors. These may have a shipment time frame of Q4 2020 - Q1 2021. If the report is true, this will be Apple's first major move from Intel to ARM for Mac devices.

Since developers would have to recompile their Mac apps for the ARM architecture, Apple may announce the switch before it actually launches the first ARM-based Mac device. WWDC (Worldwide Developer's Conference) should be an apt time to announce the switch.

Talking about WWDC 2020, Apple has just announced that it will be holding the event online this year due to coronavirus scare.