Apple is giving the iPad Air a little boost of power

I kicked Apple Weekend with Announcing the new iPad Airnow powered by an M4 chip. This is a fairly modest update, moving the device from the previous M3 to the M4, but otherwise retains the same hardware and design. The company also announced a new smartphone at an affordable price, which is iPhone 17e.

It still comes in 11-inch and 13-inch sizes, and looks identical to the previous generation. The only other significant change is the switch to Apple’s N1 network chip, which was introduced in 2016 iPhone 17 And the iPad Pro last fall. This is Apple’s home-made Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, which supports… Latest Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 Standards, let alone that Topic support For smart home control. It also has Apple’s custom C1X modem in the cellular models, which means support for sub-6 5G that’s more power efficient than the modem inside the previous iPad Air.

The only other big upgrade is the increase in unified memory from 8GB to 12GB. This is a welcome change, as Apple has not increased the price of the base configurations. It also comes at a time during a Memory deficiency crisisBut despite this, the M4 iPad Air still starts at $599 for the 11-inch model and $799 for the 13-inch model. Storage options start at 128GB and go up to a maximum of 1TB.

Courtesy of Apple

In an Apple press release, the company highlights changes for buyers coming from older models like the M1 iPad Air, released in 2022, such as a 12-megapixel central camera. It’s located along the horizontal edge rather than at the top, which is a more natural place for a webcam to make video calls. It also features better landscape stereo speakers for the same purpose. That was all that was on last year’s model as well.

The M4 chip isn’t Apple’s newest chip, as it’s still one generation behind what’s available in the M5 iPad Pro and 14-inch MacBook Pro. However, with the M4, the iPad Air is up to 30 percent faster than the iPad Air with the M3. Apple highlights a 2.3x performance increase over the M1 and says it has “4x faster professional 3D rendering” along with features like ray tracing.

You can view pricing and configurations now, but pre-orders for the new iPad Air begin at 6:15 a.m. PT (9:15 a.m. ET) on March 4 and ship on March 11.

We were expecting an update for the base iPad as well, but for now, only the iPad Air is getting an update. However, that could change over the course of the week, as Apple is expected to make more product announcements this week – including MacBooks – ahead of a “Private Apple Experience” on March 4 in New York City.

This is a developing story.