At WWDC 2023, Apple announced the new 15-inch MacBook Air with M2 chip, as well as the Vision Pro headset. Since its launch nearly two weeks ago, the MacBook Air 15-inch M2 has been the subject of much positive reactions in the tech community due to its larger screen and chassis. A recent teardown reveals that the 15-inch MacBook Air M2 is features a 25% larger battery than that of the 13-inch model, but its autonomy won’t be as long.
Why is there little difference in battery life between the 13 and 15-inch models?
Although it looks a lot like the 13-inch MacBook Air, the 15-inch Macbook Air features several internal changes. For example, the larger chassis houses an improved configuration of six loudspeakerscompared with four on the 13-inch model. The enlarged chassis of the 15-inch MacBook Air also makes it possible to integrate a 25% larger batterybut range does not increase proportionally with increased capacity.
Despite the increase in battery size, Apple assures that autonomy will be similar to that of the 13-inch model. Several factors explain why the two models offer similar autonomy despite their different capacities. Both devices are powered by the M2 chip, although their configurations differ slightly. For example, the base model of the 15″ MacBook Air is equipped with a 8-core processorsimilar to the 13-inch model, but benefits from two additional GPU cores for enhanced graphics performance.
As far as battery life is concerned, the 15-inch model should power a larger screenwhich explains why it’s comparable to the 13-inch model. In addition, the speaker system also consumes more power than the 13.6-inch version. With all these factors taken into account, the two variants of the MacBook Air offer equivalent autonomy.
The teardown also reveals that the new model’s hinges appear to be reinforced to support the weight of the larger screen. If you’re considering this machine, it’s worth considering why you should opt for the 14-inch MacBook Pro rather than the 15-inch MacBook Air if you’re considering a storage and RAM upgrade. Apple plans to update both MacBook Air models with the M3 chip by the end of this year or early next year, which will further improve battery life.