** Is Apple going to discontinue the MacBook Air? **

Apple released a new and improved MacBook (no more plastic) in April 2015. This 12" laptop is smack dab in the middle of the 11" and 13" MacBook Airs and it sports a retina display. Visually, it makes the 13" MacBook Air absolutely big. It is also lighter. Apple has little compunction to discontinue a best-selling product. You may recall that in 2005 Apple stopped producing the iPod mini, then the best-selling music player in the market. It was replaced with the iPod nano.

For an example of what Apple planning and what they are going to do with the MacBook and the MacBook Air, we have the perfect historical example in, incidentally, the MacBook Air and the MacBook. In 2008, Apple released the MacBook Air. It was thinner and lighter than the MacBook, Apple's best-selling laptop at the time, but had fewer ports, shorter battery life, a smaller and slower hard drive, was dramatically underpowered, and way more expensive. Three years later, Apple discontinued the 2010 MacBook as the 2011 MacBook Air took its place as the most popular Apple laptop. We also see this pattern with the retina MacBook Pros. 

The MacBook is a showcase, showing where the line is going. It's not a product for everyone. However, in 2-3 years, it will replace the MacBook Air and Apple will likely discontinue that line or roll the two lines together like they did with the MacBook Pro. The MacBook will overcome its limitations as the technology progresses. 

Although there is no major upgrade to Macbook Air, I don't think Apple is gonna discontinue Air. Because:

1. Macbook 2015 is not a powerful machine. It has got Intel Core M processor which is for small applications where as Macbook Air has got Intel Core i5/i7 processors that can run considerable applications.
2. Macbook 2015 is solely targeted for students or the people who use the machine only for browsing, listening to music and possibly, writers. It cannot be used for running heavy applications.

The only noticeable feature is the retina display but considering everything else, Macbook 2015 in no way in line to make Apple discontinue Macbook Air.

But with the introduction of iPad Pro, questions has been raised on the continuation of Macbook 2015 and Macbook Air. iPad Pro has got a wonderful 12.9-inch display with an incredible resolution of 2732x2048 that is better than retina display! It is an amazing device integrated with a desktop class performance, much more faster A9 chip. It is just beautiful and it will hit the sweet spot for all the students, artists, musicians, scientists, doctors almost in every field who desires for a perfect portable device. Microsoft Surface Pro was designed long back with the very intention and just when it was taking over iPad Air, Apple introduced iPad Pro. :P

Who needs a Macbook Air or Macbook 2015 when they can get a iPad Pro with a keyboard (sold separately by Apple)

But, the rumor is that Apple is gonna make a huge upgrade to Macbook Air and Macbook Pro in 2016 which will be gaming devices with Intel's 6th generation Skylake Processors and the new GeForce GTX 950 Nvidia GPU.  It is also expected that Macbook Air 2016 will be even thinner than the current product.