Oh Where, Oh Where Are Apple's Macbook Airs Going?

So begins the Apple rumormongering – this time, it's chit-chat about a possible refresh to the Macbook Air that's making the rounds.

A new report from AppleInsider indicates that MacBook Air laptops are starting to dry up at authorized retailers. Specifically, the company's 13-inch iteration of its popular thin-framed laptop – it's currently sold out at places like Amazon, B&H, MacConnection, and more.

What does this mean? Nothing yet; If you're in desperate need of a new MacBook, you can still pick up both the 11-inch and 13-inch versions of Apple's Air at the official Apple store (online or offline).

However, you might want to wait just a wee bit before you do so. As noted by AppleInsider's Neil Hughes, one of the early signs that Apple might be looking to refresh a product with a brand-new, to-be-announced model is when the current version of the device – be it laptop, iPad, or what have you – starts becoming unavailable to purchase at various retailers simultaneously.

It's the result of Apple's eye-opening command over its supply chain. As mentioned in a report from The Atlantic's Alexis C. Madrigal last year, Apple can turn over its entire inventory within a typical business week. Only McDonald's beats out Apple on this efficiency, and it allows pundits to more efficiently predict when Apple might be on the cusp of making a substantial change to one of its products – no use having the old model around when the new one's on the verge of being debuted, after all.

So when might these rumored new laptops see the light of day? Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, of course. Remember, Apple announced new iterations of both the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro at last year's WWDC, including the first Apple laptop to receive the company's Retina Display technology.

Just last month, KGI Securities' Ming-Chi Kuo threw out the prediction that Apple's likely to release new Macbook Airs featuring upgraded Intel Haswell processors, the successor to Intel's current Ivy Bridge architecture. Haswell itself will officially be revealed on June 3. And WWDC? It starts up one week later, from June 10 to June 14, at San Francisco's Moscone Center.

Fortunate timing, no? Apple had a bit more time to prep its laptops for Ivy Bridge last year – the chip was released in late April, whereas the first Macbooks to sport the new architecture launched at the 2012 WWDC in June. But that's all consumer-facing scheduling; there's no reason to think that Macbooks with Haswell architectures couldn't see the light of day in June.