Apple is reportedly readying a new MacBook Air, as well as a new iPod Touch, DigiTimes reported July 15, citing its senior analyst, Mingchi Kuo.
Kuo, reportedly basing her information on discussions with “upstream component makers,” said the new MacBook Air will feature an Intel Core i series ultra-low-voltage processor, a slimmer and lighter design, and an 11.6-inch display.
The current model, which was introduced in June 2009-making its refresh a bit overdue, in the world of Apple-measures 12.8 inches wide, has a 13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display, and offers a choice of 1.86GHz or 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processors.
The new iPod Touch, according to Kuo, will feature a 3-megapixel camera that’s capable of both taking photos and recording video. Apple’s A4 processor, a boasting point in its iPhone 4, is also said to be included. And while the new MacBook Air will reportedly arrive in “the second half of 2010,” Kuo offers the more specific estimate of “August or September” for the new iPod Touch.
Both products are said to be manufactured by Quanta Computer-a notable point, as Foxconn, another Apple manufacturing partner, has this year struggled with a dozen-plus worker suicides as it pushed to meet demands for Apple iPads and other products. Foxconn has reportedly also assembled Apple iPhones, as well as products for Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Nokia.
Kuo’s iPod Touch prediction is keeping with a July 10 report from U.K. tech site Pocket Lint-which wrote that U.K. retailer John Lewis, during a Christmas sales presentation, revealed that the iPod Touch would indeed have a 5-megapixel camera, paired with a Apple’s FaceTime video-chatting application. Lewis also shared that the device would include a gyroscope-a feature well leveraged by developers of applications and games.
Apple has offered no official comment that either a new iPod Touch or MacBook Air is eminent. And, at least until next week, the notoriously secretive company isn’t likely to. On July 16, Apple CEO Steve Jobs had his hands full with, at the very least, a press conference in which the iPhone 4, and presumably its antenna issues, will be addressed.