Apple M4 iPad Air announced: Specs, price, release date

Ahead of Apple's March 4 special experience, everyone's favorite fruit company announced the imminent launch of the newest iPad Air. As expected, the iPad Air will be available for sale starting March 4.

The new iPad will be powered by M4 silicon and comes in 11- and 13-inch versions, with starting prices of $599 and $799, respectively. For education customers, prices will start at $549 and $749. Traditionally, the Air is Apple's mid-range tablet, with the base version iPad being popular with budget shoppers and the M5 iPad Pro reserved for professionals and super users.

Here's everything we know about the new Apple tablet so far.

Upgraded performance and specs

The previous-gen iPad Air launched in May 2024, and Apple says the new model gives users "a big jump in performance at the same starting price."

With the launch of iPadOS 26 and Liquid Glass last year, the iPad has become more like a laptop, with distinct windows and multitasking capabilities.

To support those new features, the seventh-generation iPad Air has upgraded specs:

• Processor: M4 silicon, 16-core Neural Engine, 8-core CPU

• GPU: 9-core GPU

• Memory: 12GB of unified memory (120GB/s of memory bandwidth)

• Storage: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB configurations.

• Colors: Blue, purple, starlight, and space gray

• Camera: 12MP Center Stage camera

• Sizes: 11- and 13-inch models

• Wireless and cellular connectivity: N1 and C1X silicon

• Wireless connectivity: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, 5G cellular, and Thread

• Accessories: Magic Keyboard, Apple Pencil, Apple Pencil Pro

Want to learn more about getting the best out of your tech? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories and Deals newsletters today.

What's new, what's not

Users in need of a new laptop will definitely want to consider upgrading to the iPad Air, which is known for being incredibly thin and lightweight without sacrificing performance. However, at first glance, the improvements here seem pretty iterative, and it's not clear why users with the existing M3 iPad Air would rush to upgrade.

The M4 processor and enhanced wireless/cellular connectivity will undoubtedly deliver performance upgrades. Apple promises the new iPad Air will be 30 percent faster than the M3 model, with "50 percent more unified system memory."

The iPadOS 26 features described at length in the announcement press release are already available with the iPad Air and iPad Pro. Likewise, Apple didn't announce that the new iPad Air would be thinner or lighter than previous versions, which are already remarkably thin.

When can you buy the M4 iPad Air?

Apple says customers will be able to start ordering the M4 iPad Air on March 4 at the Apple Store (and at Apple.com). Apple expects it to ship to customers on Wednesday, March 11.

We'll be testing and reviewing the M4 iPad Air as soon as we can, so keep checking back for updates.