M4 MacBook Air: Everything you need to know

Apple’s M3 MacBook Air finally got settled into the Mac lineup, but Apple is already looking ahead with the M4 MacBook Air. Reports on the future laptop are starting to appear, though it’s not expected to ship until 2025.

We’ll see more rumors between now and the M4 MacBook Air release. This article will keep track of what’s being reported, as well as offer a perspective based on Apple’s current lineup.

Update December 9, 2024: Updated with information based on the M4 MacBook Pro release.

M4 MacBook Air: Release date

January – March 2025 (Predicted)

In an April 2024 report, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said that the Mac’s version of the M4 chip will be introduced in the MacBook Pro and iMacs later in 2024. However, the M4 MacBook Air release won’t come until spring 2025, which would be about a year after the M3 MacBook Air was released.

Gurman states that “the company’s plans could change,” leaving some wiggle room for the release date. Gurman doesn’t clarify if a change in plans would mean an earlier or later release.

In June 2024, Gurman reported that the Mac released schedule had not changed. The M4 MacBook Air is not expected until the spring of 2025. In August, Gurman reiterated that the M4 MacBook Air will not be available until 2025.

In October 2024, Gurman reported that Apple is getting ready to start production on the M4 MacBook Air, with a possibility of a release between January and March of 2025.

M4 MacBook Air: Processor

Apple surprised us with the release of the M4 chip in the iPad Pro in early May, barely six months after the M3 debuted in the MacBook Pro. In October 2024, Apple released the M4 MacBook Pro. Here are the specs:

iPad Pro models with 256GB or 512GB of storage

9-core CPU (3 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores)
10-core GPU
Hardware-accelerated ray tracing
16-core Neural Engine
120GB/s memory bandwidth
8GB RAM

iPad Pro models with 1TB or 2TB storage; 14-inch MacBook Pro

10-core CPU (4 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores)
10-core GPU
Hardware-accelerated ray tracing
16-core Neural Engine
120GB/s memory bandwidth
16GB RAM

How will Apple allocate the M4 in the next MacBook Air? We could see the company use the 10-core CPU version of the chip. It doesn’t seem likely that the 9-core version will be in the Air.

Compared to the 8-core M3, the M4 has two extra efficiency cores and higher memory bandwidth (120 GB/s vs 100GB/s). Apple will likely use the same design for the Mac, making the M4 the first non-Pro or Max chip that has

Before the M4 arrived in the iPad, Gurman reported that the chip would focus on AI enhancements. Apple talked briefly during its Let Loose event about the improved Neural Engine and its ability to deliver over 38 trillion operations per second but didn’t get into much detail about real-world use.

M4 MacBook Air: Design and specs

The M4 upgrade would be the fourth generation of the M-series chip in the MacBook Air, but it’s not the fourth time around for the current Air design. Apple shipped the M1 MacBook Air in 2020 with an older design that was used with Intel chips and the current design wasn’t introduced until the M2 chip upgrade in July 2022. Apple isn’t expected to change it at all for the M4.

Apple made a slight change to the Air’s design with the M3 update in March 2024, but only for one specific color. The Midnight version now has an anodization seal to help cut down on fingerprints–it’s a similar process introduced with the Space Black MacBook Pro. Apple is not expected to offer the process for the Silver, Space Gray, and Starlight colors.

When Apple released the M4 MacBook Pro in October 2024, the company increased the base amount of RAM to 16GB. It also did the same with the M2 and M3 MacBook Air that is currently for sale. Apple will; no longer release a laptop that starts with 8GB of RAM.

Another feature that could get an upgrade is battery life. If the MacBook M4 follows the iPad Pro’s chip design, it could be more energy-friendly with two extra efficiency cores. That could mean more battery life.

Macwelt

Everything else about the MacBook Air will likely stay the same with an M4 upgrade. The display, size, weight, camera, mics, speakers, ports, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth are expected to remain unchanged.