Apple's 11-inch MacBook Air is dead. Did tablets kill the small-screen laptop?

Apple's attempt at small-screen laptops has finally come to an end.

On September 1, 2025, Apple officially classified the 11-inch MacBook Air (Early 2015 model) as an obsolete product. From then on, Apple will no longer provide technical support and after-sales service for the 11-inch MacBook Air models. However, in the view of Lei Technology, the era of ultra-small screen laptops actually ended on the day when the new iPad Pro was launched in 2018.

Small-screen laptops are not exclusive to Apple

To analyze the doomed demise of this type of small-screen laptops, we have to start from the "glorious" days of these laptops. In fact, the market for laptops with a screen size below 13 inches used to be the most bustling arena in the entire PC industry. Many laptop brands we are familiar with have launched such small-screen laptops.

For example, the VAIO laptop, which has now changed hands, was the synonym for such ultra-small screen laptops a decade ago: Products like the VAIO P and VAIO X even created a new category of "pocket laptops" with their extreme portability.

Image source: VAIO

Of course, portable laptops are not just high-end "luxuries" like VAIO. Asus also launched its own EeePC lightweight netbooks in the past - low-priced, compact, pre-installed with Linux or low-config Windows, which once made many people think that "laptops can also be very cheap." Subsequently, manufacturers such as Acer, HP, and Dell followed suit, and netbooks once occupied every corner of airports, classrooms, and cafes.

But the problem is that, as the other side of being lightweight, small-screen laptops also have their own problems.

First of all, the design of a small screen and a small body lowers the upper limit of the computer's performance and heat dissipation capacity: For the CPU and GPU to perform their functions, they must have sufficient power consumption and heat dissipation space support. But in an 11-inch body, this is almost a luxury.

In order to keep the computer from getting too hot, manufacturers have to lower the power consumption of the processor, resulting in a quieter fan and a cooler palm rest. The result is that the performance is forced to be cut. This dilemma is not new. More than a decade ago, the Sony VAIO P was so small that it could fit into a coat pocket, but its performance was so weak that it might not even be able to play high-definition videos smoothly; Apple's fanless 12-inch New MacBook launched a few years ago also had the same problem.

Image source: Apple

Secondly, there are experience compromises brought about by the small-sized body. In an 11-inch or even smaller body, the keyboard becomes the victim of being lightweight. The keycaps are reduced in size, the key travel is shortened, and typing for a long time is almost a torture. You know, the target users of small-screen laptops are mostly text workers, and many people buy small-screen laptops to write documents. But after actually typing a few thousand words, you will find that the typing experience on a small-screen laptop is not as good as taking out a full-sized keyboard. If it were just the keyboard that was scaled down, it would be okay. Even the trackpad, which is crucial for Macs, has to be scaled down in a small-sized body.

Of course, there are also "exceptions" in the keyboard experience of small-sized laptops - The reason why the ThinkPad X series can gain a foothold in the small-sized market is largely because it "sticks to" the keyboard feel to the end and optimizes the limited space as much as possible. But products like ThinkPad are always in the minority. Compromising for extreme portability is still the "main theme" of small-screen laptops.

In addition, the battery life of small-screen laptops is also a shortcoming that limits small-screen computers. Compared with Windows laptops at that time, the battery life of the 11-inch MacBook Air was already relatively good among small-screen laptops; but even so, it was far from the real "all-day battery life" of later iPads.

Tablets have become the killers of small-screen laptops

It can be said that since its birth, small-screen laptops have been on a short-lived path. But in the view of Lei Technology, there is another force "adding fuel to the fire" on the way to the demise of small-screen laptops: In 2010, Apple released the first-generation iPad. At that time, Jobs said on stage: The iPad is a "third type of device" between a mobile phone and a computer, which can meet the light needs of browsing the web, checking emails, watching videos, and playing games.

Image source: Apple

And these needs are exactly the market that small-screen laptops most want to capture. So in just a few years, the iPad has replaced most of the usage scenarios of small-screen laptops. Want portability? Tablets are lighter and thinner than small-screen laptops; want battery life? The iPad's battery can last a whole day; want entertainment? The touch experience is far better than that of a small-sized laptop; not to mention the natural interaction advantage of touchscreen interaction in light entertainment scenarios.

In addition to the hardware advantages, the application ecosystem is also a key factor for tablets to replace small-screen laptops. Small-screen laptops rely on traditional PC applications, but the lack of performance makes many programs unable to run. On the contrary, the App Store and the Android application ecosystem provide a large number of applications optimized for touch, and the experience is also better. When users make a comparison, they naturally turn to the tablet camp.

Image source: Apple

Apple itself actually knows very well that instead of continuing to produce 11-inch MacBooks, it is better to let the iPad Air and iPad Pro be equipped with Magic Keyboards to cover this part of the users. And the result of this product strategy adjustment is naturally that small-screen laptops are "buried" by its own products.

Will getting smaller and smaller be the trend of consumer electronics?

If we look back at the development trajectory of personal devices in the past 15 years, we will find a very obvious trend: Getting smaller and more portable has become a long-term trend in the consumer market.

The emergence of small-sized laptops is essentially to meet the users' need to "carry a computer that can be written on and used with them at all times." Although they have made many compromises in terms of performance, keyboard experience, and battery life, what they reflect is the consumers' strong desire for light travel and efficient office work.

The rise of tablets can be regarded as a natural continuation of this need. The success of the iPad is not only because it provides better battery life and touch experience. More importantly, it liberates the "computer" from the traditional keyboard, fan, and hinge, allowing users to truly open and use it at any time. This lightweight experience has completely defeated small-screen laptops in the entertainment, learning, and light office markets.

Image source: Samsung

Entering the era of foldable screens, this trend of "small-sizing" has become even more obvious. Foldable phones such as the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold and Huawei Mate X are all trying to "fold" a large-screen device into a pocket. Their logic is not so much "making large-screen phones" as it is "making tablets more portable." From small-sized laptops, to tablets, and then to foldable phones, the underlying user logic is consistent: People are always pursuing devices that are lighter, easier to carry, and at the same time retain core functions as much as possible.

So in the view of Lei Technology, the discontinuation of small-screen laptops does not mean the disappearance of the "small-sizing" need. On the contrary, it just passes the baton to a form that is more in line with the times - first tablets, and then foldable screens. It can be said that getting smaller and more flexible is still the main theme of the development of consumer electronics products.

Is it the end of an era or the evolution of form?

From this perspective, the exit of the 11-inch MacBook Air is not so much the end of a piece of history. In fact, it is more like Apple admitting something with its own hands: Small-screen laptops have never been the future, but just a transition.

The need for portable office work has not disappeared. It has just been divided up by more reasonable product forms. The iPad has completely taken over entertainment and light office work, and foldable phones have taken the concept of a "tablet in your pocket" to the extreme. In comparison, all that small-sized laptops leave for users is the embarrassing experience of a too-small keyboard, too-weak performance, and too-high price.

From the perspective of manufacturers, no matter how much they miniaturize laptops, they cannot simultaneously meet the requirements of performance, battery life, and interaction. Instead of getting stuck in a dead end, it is better to invest resources in tablets, foldable screens, and even AI terminals. However, although the form has changed, the essential problem remains. The challenges of weight, thickness, and battery life that foldable phones face today are actually the same as the dilemma of 11-inch laptops back then.

What the market ultimately wants is never "who is smaller," but "who is more useful while being small." On this point, manufacturers still have to find ways.

This article is from "Lei Technology" and is published by 36Kr with permission.