MacBook Air M4 Release Date and What to Expect from it

Less than a few months after the release of the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air M3 on March 8, 2024, the Internet is actively talking about the new MacBook Air with the M4 chip. In this article, we'll discuss when the new macbook air m4 will be released and what to expect from it. 

MacBook Air M4 release date: when laptop with new chip will be released

So, when will the MacBook Air with M4 chip be released? The new MacBook from the Air line is expected to be released in the spring of 2025, namely in the period between the second half of March and mid-June next year. This announcement was made by Mark Gurman in his review of MacBooks with the revolutionary M4 chip on Bloomberg. Still, he did not rule out the possibility that "some of the company's plans may change." 

After the release of the MacBook Air, the high-end Mac Studio is planned to be released in mid-2025 (possibly with M4 Pro/Max/Ultra configurations) and the M4 Ultra Mac Pro in the second half of 2025.

But new MacBook Pro models with the M4 chip can be expected at the end of 2024. More advanced models of the line may be released at the beginning of next year. 

MacBook Air M4: how much will it cost

Of course, the price of the super-thin MacBook with the M4 chip is not known yet, and most likely this information will be revealed on the eve of the release, but the significant price difference between the MacBook Air M3 and MacBook Air M4 is not expected - this is what most rumors related to the release of the next generation MacBook Air have.

If the rumors turn out to be true, the cost will be approximately the same as the MacBook Air M3, which was introduced in March:

• 1,099 for a 13-inch MacBook Air M3 with an 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 8 GB of RAM, and 256 GB of storage.
• 1,299 for the 15-inch MacBook Air M3, which also has similar specifications but with a larger size.

At the same time, the new MacBook will have more additional features, such as a strong M4 chip and the introduction of AI technologies, which may make it more attractive to users than previous models if the price remains the same.

Macbook Air M4: Specifications

It is said that the new MacBook Air will receive only one chip from Apple's new M4 series, namely the basic M4. And all other chips, such as M4 Pro, M4 Max, and M4 Ultra, will be implemented in more powerful products, such as MacBook Pro and desktop iMacs.

At Apple's "Let Loose" presentation, where they showed the iPad Pro with this new M4 chip, they revealed a little bit more information about the features  of this chip. Currently, there are two versions of this basic M4: one for the 256GB or 512GB iPad Pro, and the other for the 1TB or 2TB models.

It seems that this is how they plan to divide the memory in the new MacBook Air. The base model will have 512 GB, and more powerful models  will have 1 TB and 2 TB.

So, most likely, the new MacBook Air from Apple with the M4 chip will feature  the following characteristics depending on the  memory capacity: 

1. The 512 GB model will have a 9-core processor (3 more powerful cores and 6 more energy-efficient cores), a 10-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine, and 8 GB of RAM. 
2. For 1TB or 2TB models, the M4 chip will be more powerful: it has a 10-core processor (4 powerful and 6 economical) and 16 GB of RAM, while the GPU remains the same.

And all versions of the M4 chip have a memory speed of 120 GB/s, support for hardware acceleration of ray tracing and mesh shading.

Regarding all these improvements in the Neural Engine for artificial intelligence, Apple has yet to show how it will work with apps. So far, there are no apps on the iPad Pro that would use all these features, but we are waiting for WWDC 2024, where we may learn more. 

Also read: WWDC 2024: What to Expect Ahead of Apple's Developers Conference

M4 MacBook Air: Final thoughts

At the moment, very little is known about Apple's new MacBook Air, especially when it comes to the screen or colors. But at least it's clear that it will be significantly faster thanks to the new M4 chip. It seems that the main updates will affect artificial intelligence-based functions, but it is still unknown how it will work. We will learn more about Apple's plans at WWDC 2024, which will take place on June 10, 2024, where they will also talk about the macOS 15 update.