The MacBook Air is practically dead notwithstanding the internal upgrade announced by Apple for the portable laptop at the WWDC 2017. The hardware jump at best is laughable, reports said, somehow indicating the MacBook Air demise is inevitable and happening soon.

The new MacBook Air will get the same Intel Broadwell Core i5 chip that boasts of speed bump - from 1.6GHz to 1.8GHz, certainly faster but as characterized by Business Insider: "The upgrade is extremely minor."

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Why the MacBook Air was denied a Kaby Lake processor was not explained. In fact, as noted by iDownloadBlog.com in a related report, the product was only mentioned in one statement by Apple at the WWDC 2017, again hinting the product is being prepared for an upcoming retirement. "Apple today also updated the 13-inch MacBook Air with a 1.8 GHz processor," the company said and that was it.

And there were no jaw-dropping hardware updates to talk about. "Apple hasn't given the notebook faster SSD storage, nor has it updated built-in graphics, like with today's updates to other Mac notebooks. It still ships with the pixelated non-Retina display and does not include support for the USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 standard," the report said.

It appears that the only selling point for the MacBook Air is the pricing as the sticker price starts at $999 but buyers need to be reminded they'll be getting the package they will pay for. As Business Insider said, one has to spend more money to get the higher specs variants, to the tune of $1550.

In such a case, shoppers can consider instead the 13-inch MacBook Pro that is now available for only $1299, and is hands-down prettier and more powerful. It seems quite apparent that Apple "is ready to phase out its long-popular notebook - regardless of how popular it may continue to be," Business Insider said.

Earlier, 11-inch MacBook Air was discontinued and it's very likely the specs bump afforded to the 13-inch version will be the last before the line is officially labeled obsolete. Clearly, the focus is now on the MacBook Pro and the 12-inch MacBook as it looks like that Apple's plan for the MacBook Air it to exit eventually.