Apple's next entry to its pathbreaking ultra-portable notebook, the MacBook Air, will be a new 12-inch screen size version. As with every new MacBook Air release for the past two years, there's talk of a screen resolution jump to "Retina" standards. Apple is preparing other cutting-edge hardware updates.

To begin with, Apple will tap Intel's latest Core M "Broadwell-U" chip, an SoC that combines a dual-core "Broadwell" CPU with graphics, a dual-channel DDR3L IMC, and system agent onto a single chip, with an overall TDP of 15W. Apple is working on a new fanless cooling system for this chip. The other big feature-set upgrade is the USB 3.1 port, which Intel plans to launch with the system agent for its next processor platform. USB 3.1 doubles bandwidth to 10 Gbps, and steps up power-delivery, letting you charge your portable devices faster.