According to recent reports, the Cupertino-based tech giant has indicated that there are no forthcoming plans to upgrade MacBook Air in 2017.

A vendor for Apple pointed out that MacBook Air was missing from the company's order sheet. However, upon bringing it to the company's attention, Apple confirmed that there will be no MacBook Air and that they are discontinuing the variant.

At the same time, IHS Securities analysts predict that Apple will also drop their production from 16.2 million units last year to 13.6 million this year, completely eliminating 11.6-inch MacBook Air from the line. Only 3.2 million of these units will be attributed to Air and that too 13-inch variants, WCCFTECH reported.

It is important to note that Apple has been dropping subtle hints about gradually discontinuing their MacBook Air models and replace them with more powerful and lighter MacBook Pro and iPad Pro machines.

In retrospect, in April 2016 event, Apple launched an underwhelming update for MacBook Air with just 8GB memory increase, that too for 13-inch models only. After the March/April event, Apple launched a fresh set of MacBooks but no mention of Air was ever made. In fact, the new MacBook Pro was as light and small as the Air variant, indicating a possible replacement, Macworld reported.

Meanwhile, as 13-inch MacBook Air continues to be sold, 11-inch model has already been taken off the shelves. Moreover, the company is focused on promoting their tablets that have functions similar to notebooks. Over a period of time, Apple replaced the need for MacBook Air with better devices, suggesting that it is time for their Air models to take a permanent hiatus.

For now, the company has not officially confirmed if they will or will not discontinue MacBook Air 2017. Should there be an upgrade in the offing, it is expected to launch in Apple's spring event.

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