Leaked photos have given us more evidence that Apple could be building a 12-inch MacBook Air to be released later this year.

Fresh "spy shots" of what is claimed to be the rear casing and new logo of the supposed new ultra-small, ultra-thin laptop have turned up online over the weekend.

Two sites, one in China the other in France, have independently published photos of parts reportedly from the production line of the new laptop.

The photos show the rear of the device and display, and a changed "polished" Apple logo that will replace the glowing clear one we've become used to on the company's laptop range.

 READ: Dramatic Apple MacBook Air 12-inch redesign rumoured

The rear case and display panel images come from Chinese language Apple blog iFanR. It claims the "spy shots" depict an unreleased Apple laptop display and top case that when put against the current 13-inch MacBook Air is noticeably smaller.

Meanwhile, French blog nowhereelse.fr has published pictures of a new Apple logo plate that shows Apple could be about to move away from the glowing logo on the back of its laptops in favour of polished logo instead, as found on its iPad range.

Rumours of a radically different 12-inch MacBook Air first came to light at the start of January.

It is claimed that the new model drastically reduces the size of the popular laptop by not only making the screen smaller (to 12-inches down from 13-inches), but by also losing many of the connection sockets in favour of a single USB Type-C socket instead.

We will keep you posted.