The logo of Sharp Corp is seen reflected on Apple Inc's MacBook Pro at an electronics store in Tokyo
The logo of Sharp Corp is seen reflected on Apple Inc's MacBook Pro at an electronics store in Tokyo in this January 15, 2013 file photo. Apple Inc suppliers will begin mass producing displays as early as May 2014 for the next iPhone, expected to be launched this autumn, with a 4.7-inch screen likely to be produced first while a 5.5-inch version could be delayed, supply chain sources said. Japan Display Inc, Sharp Corp and South Korea's LG Display Co Ltd have all been tapped to make the screens, said the sources, who asked not to be identified. Reuters

Apple’s MacBook series has been one of its most successful yet. The company received an overwhelming positive feedback from the market upon the release of its 2013 MacBook Air. Since the feedback from the 12-inch Retina remains divided, it appears Apple will be working on one of its classics, overhauling it to be a new killer unit to catch up with competition. Can Apple maintain its position and bring out a killer device?

The introduction of the MacBook Air in 2013 placed Apple in a different league before as it promised the "all day" battery life. The following year only ushered in minor updates which lead many to believe that the tech giant should someting more considerable up on its sleeves. According to The Motley Fool's Ashraf Eassa: I'd imagine the next MacBook Air will take a number of cues from the MacBook with respect to the industrial design. Apple is likely to adopt USB-C for refreshed Airs, although I'd expect more than just the single USB-C port found on the MacBook -- maybe a couple?"

"Additionally, I would anticipate a substantially better display. The low-resolution TN panels on the current MacBook Air models, as I've said repeatedly, are absolutely due for an upgrade," Eassa adds.

With Intel's Skylake to be released around the latter part of the year, there are high expectations that Apple will soon include it in its laptops. As Intel does not release all types of processors under one family all at once, varying releases can also mean a different release date for the MacBook Air. There are higher chances for Apple to include the processor in its 2016 offerings should Intel start delivering at the latter part of the year.

Despite the promise of a new MacBook Air, this has not stopped competitors from releasing their own versions. The Asus 15-inch ZenBook Pro UX501 has just been released with The Verge considering it as a possible competition to the MacBook series. The device comes with 15.6-inch IPS 4K display,2.6GHz quad-core i7 processor, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M graphics card, 512GB PCIe SSD, 16GB of RAM and Thunderbolt 2.0 port. Details if Apple can match the device soon remains scarce and people will have to wait for more details from the company.

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