No new MacBook Airs as Apple instead makes lower-end, $1,500 MacBook Pro

We thought Apple might introduce a new MacBook Air today, but instead the company made a lower-end MacBook Pro that might satisfy people looking for a thin laptop with more horsepower than the entry-level MacBook.

Alongside the more powerful 13" and 15" MacBook Pros announced today, there is another new 13" MacBook Pro that doesn't have the Touch Bar and Touch ID that comes with higher-end models. It does use the same general design as the higher-end MacBook Pros, weighing 3.02 pounds with "up to 10 hours" battery life for wireless Web surfing and movie playback.

Apple said it will continue selling the existing 13" MacBook Air, but the company made a point of comparing that model to this new lower-end Pro, putting it somewhere between the Air and the other Pros in the lineup. The new 13" MacBook Pro starts at $1,499 and will begin shipping today. The new higher-end Pros will start at $1,799 for the 13" model and $2,399 for the 15" model while shipping in two to three weeks.

If you don't select any hardware upgrades, the low-end 13" Pro has a sixth-generation Intel Core i5 processor with dual cores clocked at 2.0GHz, Intel Iris Graphics 540, 8GB memory, and 256GB SSD. It is available in space grey and silver, and it can cost up to $2,599 if you select the highest CPU, memory, and storage upgrades. Those available upgrades include a 2.4GHz Core i7 processor, 16GB of memory, and 512GB or 1TB of SSD storage.

The new 13" laptop has a 2560x1600 Retina display, two Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports, and a headphone jack. It has the same Force Touch trackpad and redesigned keyboard as the higher-end models despite not integrating the Touch Bar and Touch ID.

The 13" MacBook Air that's still being sold without any updates starts at $999. At least for now, the older 13" MacBook Pro is still on sale, costing $1,299 for a version with 128GB SSD.