No, the MacBook Air 2022 didn't just leak before WWDC

MacBook Air 2022 renders
(Image credit: Darvik Patel)

Update: MacBook Air 2022 preorders live now — how to get yours.

Early listings of the rumored MacBook Air 2022 and other unannounced Mac machines seen on B&H Photo are not to be trusted, according to an employee at the retailer. 

Ahead of WWDC 2022 today, store pages were found on B&H Photo's site that mentioned a 14-inch MacBook Air and a new 13-inch MacBook Pro, plus a Mac mini M2 and a mysterious "Mac mini tower" using an Apple M1 Pro chip. The pages also mention that checkout for these devices would open Monday night, falling in line with Apple opening pre-orders shortly after announcing the devices at it's yearly developer conference.

However, as B&H's senior manager of web creative content Shawn C. Steiner said, these aren't evidence of the new Macs arriving today. Instead, Steiner notes these are leftover pages made in advance of Apple's March event and are based on the same rumors that the rest of us have heard.

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This is unfortunate news for anyone really looking forward to Apple's newest crop of laptop and desktop computers. However, the weight of the leaks we've had would suggest that these machines are on the way, whether they appear at WWDC or some other Apple event.

Rumors for the new MacBook Air paint a picture of a wholly refreshed laptop. The old curved wedge-shaped design is out, and a new flatter design, in line with the new MacBook Pro is in, along with a notch in the display for the webcam. Running the show is supposedly an Apple M2 chip, reportedly a second generation take on Apple's custom silicon. The chip is tipped to favor efficiency over the raw performance of the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, and is also expected to power any other new Macs announced today at WWDC, like the Mac mini 2022.

That includes the new 13-inch MacBook Pro. While this entry-level MacBook Pro is rumored to keep the old pre-2021 MacBook design, it will apparently lose the Touch Bar from the current M1 MacBook Pro, which would point to the return of physical function keys.

We've heard nothing about a Mac mini tower though. However, it does sound a little like the Mac Studio that Apple launched in March, which fits in with what Steiner said about B&H preparing these pages based on leaks earlier in the year.

Of course, WWDC is primarily meant to be a software event. As compelling as these hardware leaks are, the most likely things we'll be hearing about today are iOS 16, iPadOS 16, macOS 13 and other key Apple updates, and the new features that come with them.

We're reporting on all the announcements today in our WWDC 2022 live blog, so be sure to tune in later today for everything Apple has to show off.

Richard Priday
Assistant Phones Editor

Richard is based in London, covering news, reviews and how-tos for phones, tablets, gaming, and whatever else people need advice on. Following on from his MA in Magazine Journalism at the University of Sheffield, he's also written for WIRED U.K., The Register and Creative Bloq. When not at work, he's likely thinking about how to brew the perfect cup of specialty coffee.