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Apple to send the original 12-inch MacBook into retirement on June 30 by Aditya Tiwari Apple is expected to expand its list of obsolete products with the addition of the original 12-inch MacBook. That's according to an internal memo seen by MacRumors and Apple is expected to pull the plug on the discontinued MacBook on June 30. The 12-inch MacBook was announced back in March 2015 with a starting price of $1,299. It was discontinued in April 2016 when Apple released the next generation of the laptop. The MacBook was powered by an Intel Core M dual-core processor coupled with 8GB LPDDR3 RAM and up to 512GB of storage onboard. The 12-inch MacBook was in the news for having just two ports on the entire machine: a 3.5mm audio jack, and a multi-functional USB-C port with support for USB 3.1 Gen 1, HDMI, VGA, and DisplayPort 1.2. However, this also meant users had to purchase a separate USB-C adapter for added connectivity options. It is the first laptop from Apple to feature the USB-C port and also the first MacBook to ship without MagSafe charging at the time. It was later in 2021 when Apple's M-series MacBook Pro laptops were released with a MagSafe 3 charging connector. The 2015 MacBook was among the lightest laptops on the market weighing just 2.03 pounds. With its 39.7 Wh battery, the device offered up to 30 days of standby time and around 9 hours of web browsing. Apple marks a product obsolete seven years after discontinuing its sales on the market. Service providers can't order repair parts for such devices and they are no longer eligible for hardware repairs at Apple Stores and Apple-authorized service centers. Apple also added the original iPad Air to its list of obsolete products last month. The 12-inch MacBook was refreshed twice, first in April 2016 and then again in June 2017, it was discontinued in 2019. Therefore, its last generation which is yet to be marked vintage is still eligible for service and hardware repairs. Source: MacRumors

Apple reportedly reviving its 12-inch MacBook with ARM chipsets this year by João Carrasqueira For years, Apple had been rumored to be preparing a transition from Intel-based Mac devices to ARM processors. After a long period of speculation, the company finally announced at WWDC 2020 that it would be moving to its own ARM-based Apple Silicon over the next two years, though it didn't say exactly where the transition would start. Now, a report from The China Times (via MacRumors) suggests the company will start the transition by reviving its 12-inch MacBook, which has been dormant since Apple refreshed the product back in 2017. According to the report, the line is coming back, and it will be powered by Apple's A14X processor, based on the Apple A14 that's expected to be inside this year's iPhones. The report also claims that the 12-inch MacBook, codenamed Tonga, would weigh less than a kilogram. In some ways, the report makes sense. Using the Apple A14X lines up with a report from earlier this year, which claimed the company was working on a total of three chipsets based on the Apple A14 for its Mac devices. The A14X is also said to be inside the next-generation iPad Pro, and that's a strategy Apple has been using for some time now, where the iPad Pro has an enhanced version of the latest iPhone processor. However, most reports so far point to Apple releasing a new iteration of the 13-inch MacBook Air instead. As mentioned above, the 12-inch MacBook has been discontinued since 2017, and with the MacBook Air's claim to fame being its weight, it probably wouldn't make a ton of sense to bring back the regular MacBook as an ultra-light device. On another note, the report also indicates that Apple might release an ARM-based iMac next year, which means not only would Apple Silicon be replacing Intel's CPUs, but also the AMD graphics typically found in the iMac.