Asus Unveils MacBook Air Rival Featuring Slim Design and Ultra-Powerful Hardware

Asus has announced the Zenbook 14 Air 2026 in China, introducing a lightweight, AI-focused laptop designed for users who prioritize portability without compromising performance. The device was unveiled alongside the dual-screen Zenbook 14 Duo during Asus’s latest AI PC launch event.

The Zenbook 14 Air 2026 is powered by Intel’s third-generation Core Ultra processors built on the 18A process, with top configurations featuring the Core Ultra 9 386H processor capable of boost speeds up to 4.9GHz. Asus also offers a Core Ultra 7 variant, with both processors using a 16-core architecture that combines high-performance, efficiency, and low-power cores. The Core Ultra 9 model includes an upgraded neural processing unit delivering up to 50 TOPS of AI compute, enabling advanced on-device AI tasks such as image generation, language modeling, and Windows Copilot support.

The laptop weighs just 1.19kg and measures 1.1cm thick, making it highly portable. It features a CNC-machined unibody chassis with a Ceraluminum lid that combines ceramic and aluminum for durability, a warmer touch, and resistance to fingerprints and stains. A hidden hinge design and geometric grille improve airflow efficiency by up to 50%.

The Zenbook 14 Air 2026 comes with a 14-inch OLED display offering 2880 x 1800 resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate, up to 1,100 nits peak brightness, and VESA DisplayHDR 1000 certification. It supports 100% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage, 10-bit color depth, and factory-calibrated color accuracy with Delta E below 1. The laptop is available in Snow White and Mountain Mist Grey.

The laptop supports up to 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM running at 8,533 MT/s and up to 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD storage. Its 77Wh battery is rated for up to 29.5 hours of local video playback. Thermal management is handled by a dual-fan system with an ultra-thin vapor chamber and graphite sheets, maintaining fan noise below 25dB during light workloads.

Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 7, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a 10Gbps USB-A port, HDMI 2.1, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The Zenbook 14 Air 2026 also features a 1080p IR webcam with Windows Hello, AI noise reduction, a quad-speaker Dolby Atmos system, and a 5.9-inch touchpad with gesture shortcuts and 240Hz touch sampling rate.

Asus has priced the Core Ultra 9 configuration at $1,438, while pricing for the Core Ultra 7 variant has not yet been announced.