WWDC 2023: Apple's new MacBook Air is the "world's thinnest."

The new model is 11.5mm thick, which Apple says makes it the world's thinnest 15-inch laptop, and will weigh just over three pounds. It has two USB-C Thunderbolt ports (supporting an external display up to 6K), a MagSafe charging connector, and a headphone jack, and it will come in midnight, starlight, space grey, and silver colours. Its 15.3-inch screen (with sporty five-millimetre bezels) has 500 nits of brightness. There's also a 1080p FaceTime HD webcam, three microphones with "advanced beamforming algorithms," and six speakers (two wobbly and two sets of force-cancelling woofers) with spatial audio and Dolby Atmos.

The new model starts at $1,299 ($1,199 for education) and will be available next week. Meanwhile, Apple is updating the price of its most miniature model. The 13-inch MacBook Air with M2 now costs $1,099, and the base M1 Air is still $999.

Apple claims the new Air will be up to 12 times faster than the fastest Intel MacBook Air models and offer up to 18 hours of battery life. In addition, it's claimed to be 25 per cent brighter, 40 per cent thinner, twice as fast, and half a pound lighter than "a best-selling 15-inch Intel Core i7 laptop."

Like previous MacBook Air models, the new 15-inch will have a fanless design. It will run macOS Ventura now, followed by macOS Sonoma when it launches this fall.

The 15-inch size may also be a convenient middle ground between Apple's current 14-inch and 16-inch offerings. MacOS fans haven't had a compelling 15-inch option for several years. A 14-inch screen is often considered too small to use some creative software comfortably, while the 16-inch Pro can be heavy to carry along with peripherals and camera gear. A lightweight 15-inch can find a home with users stuck between the two for the past two years.