Apple has been accused of being many things, but "cheap" isn't one of them. If you want to own a brand new Apple-branded laptop, then the cheapest option is the MacBook Air, which starts at $999. Beyond that there's the MacBook and MacBook Pro starting at $1,299 each. However, the good news is we may be getting an cheaper laptop from Apple in the next few months.

As 9To5Mac reports, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo released a couple of investor notes late last week among which he predicts Apple will launch a cheaper MacBook Air in the second quarter of this year. Kuo's track record of predicting what Apple is going to do next is very good and we've got no reason to suspect he's wide of the mark here.

The MacBook Air has been around since 2008 and received its last refresh in June 2017. The base $999 model includes a 13.3-inch 1,440-by-900 resolution display, a 128GB SSD, 8GB of RAM, and is powered by a dual core 1.8GHz Intel Core i5-5350U with Intel HD Graphics 6000 integrated GPU.

The processor is a 5th generation Intel chip first released back in early 2015, so it's well overdue for an upgrade. As to what the upgrade will include, that's difficult to predict. Apple won't want to offer a cheaper laptop that reduces the amount of 12-inch MacBooks it is selling. How do you stop that while offering a 13-inch MacBook Air with a significantly lower price point? Could we see a reduction is screen size? Apple used to sell an 11.6-inch model, after all.

If Kuo's prediction of a second quarter launch is accurate then expect Apple to make an announcement very soon.