Overview
- Apple’s 11‑inch and 13‑inch iPad Air models keep the same design, colors and starting prices ($599 and $799), with preorders on March 4 and retail availability on March 11.
- The M4 brings an 8‑core CPU, 9‑core GPU and a 16‑core Neural Engine, with Apple claiming up to 30% faster performance than M3 and up to 2.3x versus M1, plus 120GB/s memory bandwidth.
- Unified memory rises to 12GB to better handle AI features and creative apps like Final Cut Pro and Pixelmator Pro, and the M4 adds hardware acceleration for more 8K video formats.
- Connectivity shifts to Apple silicon with the N1 wireless chip enabling Wi‑Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread, while cellular models gain the C1X modem that Apple says boosts data speeds and efficiency.
- Accessory compatibility is unchanged (Magic Keyboard, Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Pencil USB‑C), storage options span 128GB to 1TB, and Apple lists education discounts and India‑specific pricing.