What Does 'Air' Mean?
What does the ‘Air’ in MacBook Air stand for? The more I pondered this question, the more confusing Apple’s history with the suffix became.
For years some of Apple's most popular products have used the 'Air' suffix. But if you asked me what I thought the 'Air' in the iPad or MacBook Air stood for, I'm not sure what I would have said? Does Air mean cheapest? Sometimes it has, sometimes it hasn't. Does Air mean lightest? Sometimes it has, other times it hasn't. Does Air mean most popular? Again, sometimes yes, sometimes no. Reflecting on the meaning of 'Air,' I ended up with more questions than clarity.
Air as Cutting Edge
Announced by Steve Jobs at Macworld 2008, the MacBook Air was breathtakingly thin & light for its time. Photo by Matthew Yohe.
The first product to be given the Air suffix was the unibody MacBook Air announced at Macworld San Francisco in 2008. You'll remember this as the laptop Steve pulled out of an inauspicious manila envelope. When the Air was announced, it came with a starting price of $1,799 and wedged (sort of a pun) itself between the plastic MacBooks, which started at $1,099, & the aluminum MacBooks Pro which started at $1,999.
Introduced as a new approach to laptops for Apple, the Air ushered in the first unibody design for a laptop (now standard fare in Apple products) and had a heavy focus on lightness (3.0 lbs) and cutting edge technologies. The Air was the first Apple laptop to dispense with the CD drive and have the option of flash storage (64GB Solid State Drive) for an additional $800. For a period, the MacBook Air became the thinnest laptop available. But with just 1 USB port, mono audio, and a slower Core 2 Duo processor than that found in any other Apple laptop, the MacBook Air made too many compromises & felt closer to a proof-of-concept than mainstream consumer laptop. In this era, Air meant lightest, but with compromises in performance and a high cost to getting on board the bleeding edge.
Air as Standard Fare
In 2010, Apple introduced a redesigned Air which came in an 11.6” & 13.3” form factor.
Two years later, Apple introduced a completely redesigned MacBook Air, which substantially brought down the price. Starting at $999, the 11" MacBook Air was not only Apple's thinnest and lightest offering (11": 2.3 lbs; 13": 2.9 lbs) but also its cheapest. While still compromising on clock speed and storage size, cutting-edge technologies just two years earlier (flash storage, unibody design) were now standard. A better complement of ports (a second USB port & added SD slot) also added to the Air's desirability. This redesigned MacBook Air quickly became Apple's most popular laptop, muscling out the polycarbonate MacBook & becoming the default consumer offering from Apple for nearly a decade before its third redesign. Apple now had an Air & a Pro, the Pro for professionals and the Air for everyone else. Air's meaning had shifted & become synonymous with thin & light notebooks that were more price-conscious for consumers.
Air as Top Tier
The iPad Air in 2013 & Air 2 in 2014 became the best tablet offerings from Apple for their time.
So while the Air moniker was coming to represent Apple's most affordable laptop line, it went in a completely different direction with the iPad. In 2013, the iPad Air brought the thin bezels introduced in the 7.9" mini to the 9.7" iPad. Weighing only a pound and shaving 1.3mm off the iPad 2, the iPad Air became Apple's thinnest and lightest iPad to date.
But unlike the first MacBook Air, the iPad Air lacked the tradeoffs seen in Air's MacBook debut. Air in the iPad simultaneously represented Apple's latest, lightest, priciest, and most full-featured tablet offering. Customers wanting an alternative 9.7" Apple Tablet had to settle for the three generations-old iPad 2 that remained the more budget-minded offering.
The iPad Air 2, released a year later, continued the spirit of the original iPad Air by continuing to be Apple's thinnest, lightest, most powerful full-featured tablet.
Air as Legacy
By the time 2016 rolled around, Air began to take on a new meaning. Where it once held the title for being at the forefront of design and feature offerings, the Air specs gradually came to feel quite dated.
The now two and three-year-old iPad Air 2 & Air remained in the lineup, this time alongside the new iPad Pro 9.7", which was endowed with all the latest year-over-year enhancements (A9X, TrueTone, improved cameras, 4-speaker audio, etc.). While the iPad Air's continued to remain fine tablets in their own right, their place in Apple's lineup had changed. Where Air had once stood for top-of-the-line, it now represented an old entry-to-mid-range device. People who had previously looked to the Air as the future of the iPad now turned to the Pro.
Air as Untouchable
Nothing could deter people from buying the aging MacBook Air despite devices like the 12” MacBook & redesigned MacBook Pro in Apple’s lineup.
Meanwhile, a different issue plagued Apple's Laptop line. By late 2016 the MacBook Pros, which started at $400 more than the $999 Airs, had been completely redesigned with Force Touch trackpads, retina displays, faster processors, brighter P3 displays an updated complement of IO. To add insult to injury, they were now thinner (0.59" v. .68"), smaller, and nearly as light (3.02 lbs v. 2.96 lbs) as the ageing Air.
But the 13" Air now also had to compete with the new MacBook. Released in 2015, the suffix-less MacBook was smaller (12"), nearly a pound lighter (2.03 lbs), and thinner (.52") than the Air. The MacBook also introduced several never-before-seen features to Apple's laptops (new port, keyboard, and haptic trackpad along with a fanless design). With a higher price tag of $1,299, throttled performance, and a significant reduction in ports, the MacBook felt very much like a proof-of-concept notebook, similar to how the first Air did in 2008.
Neither of these laptops did much to shake the popularity of the ageing Air. Even though the latest Apple laptops had a refined design & numerous advancements over the Air, they couldn't budge the Air's appeal, whose $999 price tag proved too attractive with consumers. Despite rocking a nearly decades-old design, the Air persisted and came to represent Apple's most affordable, popular, and practical laptop offering.
Air as AWOL
For nearly two years, from early 2017 to 2019, the iPad Air disappeared. After the Air 2 was discontinued, Apple introduced a new suffix-less 6th generation iPad that sold alongside the mini 4 & both display sizes of the iPad Pro. Costing just $329, the new iPad was priced competitively over something like the Air 2, but it was thicker (7.5mm v. 6.1mm), heavier (469 grams v. 437 grams), and no longer offered a laminated display like the Air 2 had. The Air, which up to this point had covered the gamut from Apple's lowest-to-highest end tablets, had disappeared completely.
Air Becomes the Best for Most
Late 2018 & early 2019 introduced a new motif for the Air. Now, the Air became the product intentionally built for being the product that was best for most. With Apple's introduction of the iPad Air 3 & redesigned MacBook Air, the product struck a balance by offering some of the most compelling technologies seen in the higher-end products while remaining more price-conscious.
As an iPad, the reintroduced Air 3 offered a 10.5" screen that sat between the 10.2" iPad & 11" iPad Pro, featured compatibility with the Smart Keyboard & Apple Pencil, offered a bright laminated display P3 colour, upgraded FaceTime camera, and 2nd generation TouchID. Technologies like ProMotion, a faster processor, FaceID, 4-speakers, etc., were all reserved for Apple's priciest Pro line, but lacking these features by no means diminished the product as a competent & polished tablet.
Meanwhile, in notebooks, Apple finally seemed to lean into the fact that people loved the Air. In 2018 Apple fully embraced the Air moniker and significantly updated the MacBook Air to finally bring it in line with features across their other computers. It became thinner and lighter, added a Retina Display, TouchID, Force Touch trackpad, and updated USB-C peripherals. And all while maintaining the magical $999 price that had proven to be the best selling feature of the device.
Similarly, the iPad Air 4 released in late 2020 continued to embrace Apple's new 'best for most' philosophy. Though the Air 4 lacked some of the enhanced cameras, screen and GPU features of the Pro, it got a redesigned form factor, larger display, USB-C, and upgraded internals, among other things. And with a $599 price squarely between the $329 iPad & $799 Pro, the Air carved itself a comfortable niche in the middle of Apple's tablet lineup.
Late into the decade, Air felt like it once again had a real identity in Apple's lineup. With a foot in price consciousness & a foot offering the most compelling suite of the most sought-after features, the Air felt less about compromises but more about optimizing a device that offered the best value.
P-aIr-adox
If it looks like Air but runs like a 16” MacBook Pro, then it must be the new M1 MacBook Air.
But the Air line wasn't quite done. While continuing the role of being the best product for most users, the MacBook Air now took on the extra responsibility in late 2020 of being the first laptop to transition to Apple's M1 processor. In a bold move that would look reckless had anyone besides Apple done it, the most popular computer Apple sold began to be sold with the M1 processor exclusively, without another $999 alternative or Intel Air sold alongside it. The M1 had better deliver.
People who knew nothing about the M1 transition received a considerably better computer overnight without even perceiving any translation layers running in the background. All they experienced was a laptop that ran cooler, faster, and longer than before. But for those following Apple's chip transition, the M1 left techies gobsmacked! The Air became a contradiction of sorts; how could Apple's cheapest, lightest, consumer-grade notebook simultaneously be their best performing?
Now the title of best performing is only a temporary title as we're likely months away from seeing the first Apple's first professional-grade computers equipped with the latest generation of Apple Silicon. The announcement of these new pro-level devices will resolve the paradox of Apple's MacBook Air, restoring it to the title of being the best laptop for most but having more powerful machines available above it.
In Sum
Over thirteen years, the Air suffix has taken on many diverse roles across Apple's product lineup. Contained to Apple's portables, the Air has represented a gamut of qualities, from Apple's boldest & most cutting-edge tech to its oldest, most beleaguered designs. I'm most satisfied with Air's current placement in the lineup; as the defacto best-for-most consumer device balancing specs and most sought-after features. Notwithstanding this history, Air continues to command respect as a brand within Apple, with its longevity highlighting its appeal and brand reputation among consumers.
