Today, Apple announced refreshes of its MacBook Air and its entry-level MacBook Pro. In doing so, it killed off the 12-inch MacBook lineup, which is the newest member of the family, announced in 2015. It was last updated in 2017.
The 12-inch MacBook introduced a lot of first for Apple"s family of portable PCs, which have become the norm. It was the first to use the infamous butterfly keyboard, the Force Touch trackpad, and it was the first MacBook to include only USB Type-C ports. And it only had a single USB Type-C port, a bold statement at the time.
But over time, the product felt increasingly out of place. In October 2018, the company refreshed the MacBook Air with a Retina display, and it beat out the 12-inch MacBook in almost every way, including price. The 12-inch MacBook was less powerful with its 4.5W Y-series processor, while the MacBook Air uses a custom 7W Y-series chip.
While at one point, it seemed like the MacBook was here to kill off the MacBook Air, apparently just the opposite is true. The MacBook Air is both the predecessor and the successor to the 12-inch MacBook.