Apple has quietly refreshed its popular mid-range tablet, delivering the new iPad Air powered by the M4 chip — a significant upgrade under the hood while preserving the familiar look and feel users expect. This update reinforces Apple’s strategy of bringing advanced performance and connectivity to a broader audience.
At the core of the redesign is the Apple M4 chip, which Apple says delivers roughly 30 % faster overall performance compared to the previous M3-based iPad Air and 2.3× the speed of the original M1-based model. This boost benefits everything from multitasking to gaming and productivity apps, making the tablet more responsive across a wide range of everyday and creative tasks.
In a nod to growing demand for richer workflows and on-device AI, Apple has also increased unified memory to 12 GBand expanded memory bandwidth, helping power machine-learning tasks and smoothing out large app operations. These improvements aim to better support features like advanced photo and video editing, faster search, and fluid multitasking.
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Connectivity gets a noticeable bump as well. The new iPad Air incorporates Apple’s N1 wireless chip for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread support, along with the C1X modem in cellular models. These silicon upgrades are designed to deliver faster network speeds and more reliable connections for everything from streaming video to file transfers.
Despite the internal enhancements, the iPad Air maintains its two size options — 11-inch and 13-inch — and keeps its starting prices unchanged. The 11-inch model remains at $599, while the larger 13-inch version starts at $799.
Supporting accessories such as the Apple Pencil Pro, Apple Pencil (USB-C), and Magic Keyboard continue to expand what the tablet can do, especially for creative and productivity-oriented users. Pre-orders kick off March 4, with devices arriving in stores starting March 11.
Taken together, the refreshed iPad Air brings strong performance and modern connectivity without changing the tablet’s classic design, making it a compelling option for users who want capable hardware at a reasonable price.
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