The 15-inch MacBook Air is the first Air with a large screen ever. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge A couple of years ago, laptop sales were through the roof. With the majority of the population stuck at home for both work and school, plus flush with cash from government stimulus checks, many people were in need of better computers for use at home. And many of them bought laptops, to the tune of 340 million units in 2021. But that wave is long over. Overall laptop sales fell by double digits in 2022, and they haven’t bounced back in 2023. Apple, ever the outlier in so many markets, did manage to squeak out an increase in 2022…

The 15-inch MacBook Air is the first Air with a large screen ever. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge A couple of years ago, laptop sales were through the roof. With the majority of the population stuck at home for both work and school, plus flush with cash from government stimulus checks, many people were in need of better computers for use at home. And many of them bought laptops, to the tune of 340 million units in 2021. But that wave is long over. Overall laptop sales fell by double digits in 2022, and they haven’t bounced back in 2023. Apple, ever the outlier in so many markets, did manage to squeak out an increase in 2022…

A combination of expanding electricity demand and a fall in capacity means Vietnam is facing a power shortage, and wants iPhone maker Foxconn to limit its use.Vietnam at nightTechnology companies have been expanding in Vietnam, in part to move way from over dependence on China, and that expansion is increasing. Apple suppliers Foxconn, BOE, and Quanta, have each separately announced major new facilities in a region that now can't support them. Read more...

This thing could cause PC manufacturers some real problems. Apple’s M1 and M2 devices have become many reviewers’ default recommendations for popular classes of laptops. Slim and light? Try the 13-inch MacBook Air. Big and powerful? Get the 16-inch MacBook Pro. But in between those two is one of few form factors still firmly dominated by the Windows PC: the 15-inch ultralight. Until, perhaps, next week. Apple has announced that a 15-inch MacBook Air, powered by its M2 chip, will hit shelves on June 13th. I’m excited to try it out because I’m madly curious to know what a 15-inch MacBook Air feels like. But more importantly, I’m excited to see the impact it has on the 15-inch lightweight space.…

Macworld I get it. You’re excited and/or angry about the $3,500 headset Apple might sell you next year if you’re in the right country. It’s worth getting excited about. But in terms of real-world, right-now impact, the surprise winner of the WWDC 2023 keynote is… wait for it… the Mac! I would never have imagined it beforehand, but it’s true: Apple’s Mac announcements on Monday were huge news, despite being overshadowed by shiny future products and platforms that won’t let anyone do anything until 2024. MacBook Air +2 While I’m acting all contrarian-like, let me double down. The most important Mac announcement on Monday wasn’t the upgraded Mac Studio or the Mac Pro, the final piece of the Apple silicon…

The new Mac Pro next to a Pro Display XDR. | Image: Apple Apple has completed the Mac’s move away from Intel. Now it needs to prove Mac Pro upgrades can keep up with pro users. In recent years, Apple’s Macs have been on not one but two journeys. The first is obvious; it’s the company’s transition away from using Intel chips toward its own Arm-based Apple Silicon. And with the new Mac Pro announced this week, this transition is complete. Intel’s chips have been expunged from Apple’s computers. But Apple has also been on a second journey: to build high-end machines for professional users that those pro users actually want. It’s been almost exactly a decade since Apple launched…