Apple testing M4 MacBook Air with ultra-wide camera & Center Stage support
An M4 update to the MacBook Air in 2025 has been rumored for some time, but information exclusive to AppleInsider suggests that the new model will have Center Stage support from an ultrawide camera.
MacBook Air
Typically, rumors and leaks are spread online, sourced from third-party manufacturers, analyst predictions, and hearsay. However, in Wednesday's public releases of its operating system updates, the download for macOS 15.2 has some accidental additions concerning the MacBook Air.
Text strings, confirmed by AppleInsider, include references to the MacBook Air in 13-inch and 15-inch sizes. Both models are expected to be equipped with the M4 chip.
Beyond the leak in Wednesday's macOS release, there are also regulatory documents that we have discovered. In those regulatory documents found by AppleInsider, there's a reference to a "Front Ultra Wide Camera." This is likely to mean the 1080p FaceTime HD camera in the M3 version could get an upgrade.
An Ultra Wide camera could end up with the MacBook Air gaining Center Stage support, or features such as Desk View, just like the M4 MacBook Pro.
Center Stage allows your iPad or suitably equipped Mac to use its Ultra Wide camera and follow you when you move around to keep you in the central frame. The feature was first introduced in the iPad Pro in 2021, when the M1 chip was introduced to Apple's tablet line.
On the Mac, Center Stage used to be part of Control Center, but it now belongs in a new menubar icon that groups together options such as portrait mode, or reactions. This new menubar icon changes to show you when your camera is in use, or just your microphone, and it's this icon that can effectively be obstructed.
The feature can be used on MacBook Air models now, with a paired iPhone being used as the camera. It's limited to either a paired iPhone, or a suitable camera, which to date, is only on the MacBook Pro.
An addition of the wide-angle camera could also enable Desk View. Desk View uses the camera to capture then perspective-correct the area right in front of your computer to show on screen. This can be shared on a call or recorded. It too is a feature of Continuity Camera that leverages the wide-angle lens.
The feature migrating to the MacBook Air line makes sense. Apple often debuts new features on "Pro" level hardware, with them trickling down over time.
Current rumors claim the MacBook Air line is getting an upgrade in the spring of 2025, as Apple gradually shifts its entire Mac catalog to the chip.
Rumor Score: Likely
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
It is unlikely that the M4 version will launch less than a year after the M3 model (March 4, 2024), so I expect the transition to be sometime between March and May. I doubt Apple will wait as long as WWDC 2025 (June) when the focus will shift to new operating systems and new silicon.
My guess is there will not be any special event for the M4 MacBook Air, probably just a press release and video like this fall's Mac releases. They might try to stagger a few other products like the Mac Studio, maybe the new iPhone SE (2025).
While it may come to a surprise to you Apple isn't that stupid. They have been marketing notebook computers for over a quarter of a century.
Listen: if you love that wedge shape, the new MBA is never going to take its place. But apart from that, I've owned both machines, and the new MBA is better in every way. I think the upcoming M4 update should take an already excellent laptop and elevate it to just about perfect if OLED and ProMotion aren't must haves for you.
Weight for me is everything as i carry it around everywhere. After that it's clarity of screen and then battery and performance.
Some super deals here in the UK on the M3, but may wait until the m4 appears. Really hope they don't add more weight!
Apple will have to deliver proper WiFi 7 at some point. I just don't expect MBA M4 to be first.
The real change is to happen in 2026 when iPads, laptops, and iPhones will get user replaceable batteries due to EU regulations. I do hope it will be a bit more compact than the replaceable batteries on my PowerBook G3 Pismo.
I would hold on to your wedge MBAs. They are likely to gain value with time.
Design has left Apple.
Seems like low hanging fruit.
That being said the new repairable Android phone I just saw on YT makes another point still - you can actually make something really small, while still keeping it repairable.
I think Apple is already doing this, they replaced the glue on the batteries and then maybe put some more normal screws on the back, and bingo, you have "user replaceable". We will never go back to the separate battery unit (for those who remember) - that was a poor design, sacrificing space and weight for a feature nobody ever used - swapping out your battery on the go with a replacement unit is not something people ever adopted.
Last thing I need is yet another device shooting lasers into my eyes. Why even try to make eye-friendly monitors?
You are likely right on the "design language" which is what a design academic would view it as.
That being said, the new MBA (post wedge shape) is a design disaster of epic proportions. I can never tell if it's a 14" pro or an air. Visually, there's no difference.
Why is it a design disaster?
Because it looks visually much, much thicker than it is. It is a marvel of engineering, thin as can be, and yet, it doesn't get any of the good looks that should normally be associated with such an engineering feat.
Windows Surface laptops are looking better these days - thinner, more modern. It's sad.
The wedge shape definitely looked a lot better than the current design, which is why I picked up one before they went out of production. Also rose gold - sorry that's the best looking laptop Apple has ever made. Then they sacrificed it on the altar of design language.
Today, others have caught up in manufacturing, and Apple's lost its taste. Probably happened when Ive left. Now we have nobody there who is really world class.
Make no mistake: You are witnessing live how Apple went from the best designed hardware on the planet to a middling a-ok kind of player. And I see no stopping of this trend, even iPhones have never been as ugly as they are now. Nobody seems to care, people buy them anyway. But are they designer masterpieces? Surely not. Plenty of Androids looking as good if not better (they don't perform better.. but Huawei and Xiaomi both make better looking phones)
PS: I am aware it's "technically" thinner - technically 31-31-31 is thinner than 36-24-36 and yet ... most guys prefer the latter - shape matters!