DigiTimes is reporting that sources within Apple's supply chain are claiming that early preproduction runs of the new 12-inch MacBook Air have already occurred, with low yields of the new ultra light notebook causing some issues that have slightly pushed back planned mass production until early 2015.

The rumored 12-inch MacBook Air would use a new design that's lighter and thinner than current MacBook Air products, incorporate a Retina display, and, with Intel's new Broadwell Core M chip, be able to run with no fans and offer battery lifetime equivalent to, if not better than, current models of the MacBook Air.

DigiTimes believes the low yield issues have been solved, although it was never mentioned what component or process was causing the quality issues. Quanta Computer, which was tasked with building the preproduction units, is believed to retain the contract for mass production of the new MacBook Air model.

Although details haven't been revealed yet, anticipated features include dual Thunderbolt 2 ports and new USB 3 Type C ports that allow the USB cable to be plugged in any orientation, which is a vast improvement over trying to figure out which way is 'up' on the connector.

Although DigiTimes reports that mass production will start in the first quarter of 2015, no information was provided on expected announcement dates. Earlier rumors pointed to a late second quarter 2015 availability time; this forecast was based primarily on availability of the often late Broadwell processors from Intel. But if mass production can truly start in the first quarter, then Apple must have its hands on enough Broadwell chips to allow the new 12-inch MacBook Air to have a coming-out party around mid 2015.

This may be the first good news Apple has experienced with the Intel Broadwell processors, and may be a sign of additional product updates during the coming year.

Update 1/6/2015:

Based on sources from inside Apple, 9to5Mac is reporting that the 12-inch MacBook Air will be considerably smaller than the current 13-inch model, and will also be slightly narrower than the 11-inch Macbook Air, although slightly taller to help accommodate the larger 12-inch display.

To create the narrow body, Apple redesigned the keyboards, creating more compact keys and squeezing them together. In addition, the arrow keys have been redesigned from the typical four-key inverted T arrangement to a three-key design, with the up/down keys combined on a single rocker-style key. The changes also include pushing the keyboard out to the edges of the 12-inch MacBook Air, providing only a slim bezel around the edge.

Other interesting insights from 9to5 suggest that there will only be a single USB Type-C port, and a headphone/mic jack. Gone are the MagSafe, Thunderbolt, and SDXC card slots. This change allows the new MacBook Air to be even thinner than the current 11-inch model.

In order for this dramatic change to work, the single USB Type-C connector will have to serve triple duty: as a fast USB data port, a power port to charge and run the 12-inch MacBook Air, and a display port. While the USB Type-C specifications allow for all of these uses for the port, having only a single port would seem to require Apple to provide a dongle or dock to allow concurrent use of the port.

9to5Mac also points out that Apple tends to have multiple prototypes with different configurations in use at the same time, and the Apple source may only be reporting on the single version he or she has been allowed to use.

Finally, rumored announcement and shipping dates haven’t changed, with a mid 2015 time frame likely, perhaps at the summer WWDC 2015 developers' get-together.

Update 1/13/2015

Digitimes is reporting that Quanta Computer has begun volume production of the 12-inch MacBook Air. Quanta is also attempting to hire an additional 30,000 workers to meet production demands for both the 12-inch MacBook Air and the Apple Watch, which Quanta won the contract for earlier in the year.

If Quanta's volume production continues without issue, it could lead to a slightly earlier release date for Apple, perhaps as soon as the end of the first quarter 2015.

Published: 12/22/2014

Updated: 1/13/2015