Apple’s New, More Powerful iPad Air With M4 Has 50% More RAM

Alongside the new entry-level iPhone 17e, Apple unveiled a new iPad Air tablet powered by the Apple M4 chip. The new iPad Air promises a “big jump” in performance while retaining the same $599 starting price for the 11-inch version and $799 for the 13-inch tablet.

The iPad Air moves from the Apple M3 chip to the M4, which promises up to 30 percent faster performance. Compared to the first iPad Air with an M chip, the M1-powered iPad Air, the M4 iPad Air is up to 2.3 times faster overall.

The updated iPad Air has faster CPU and GPU performance, better AI performance thanks to the M4’s faster Neural Engine, and 50 percent more unified memory than previous generations. The iPad Air with M4 features 12GB of RAM, up from 8GB, which should enable better app performance and improved multitasking, which is a big part of the iPadOS 26 update released last fall.

The new iPad Air also includes Apple’s latest connectivity chips, N1 and C1X, promising faster W-Fi and cellular connections. The iPad Air now supports Wi-Fi 7.

“iPad Air gives users more ways than ever to be creative and productive, offering powerful performance and incredible versatility to help them turn their ideas into reality,” says Bob Borchers, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With its blazing performance thanks to M4, incredible AI capabilities, and game-changing iPadOS 26 features, there’s never been a better time to choose or upgrade to iPad Air.”

Apple specifically highlights improved performance with its new Creator Studio apps, which include Final Cut Pro for video editing and Pixelmator Pro for photos. The improved AI performance not only helps with iPadOS 26’s AI features but also with the AI tools in Final Cut Pro and Pixelmator Pro, such as Final Cut’s Scene Removal Mask.

In many other ways, the iPad Air with M4 is the same as its predecessor. It has the same 12-megapixel rear camera, the same landscape 12-megapixel Center Stage front camera, and the same accessory support for Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard. The 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air models have the same Liquid Retina displays with P3 wide color gamut support.

Pricing and Availability

The new iPad Air with M4 will be available to preorder starting on Wednesday, March 4, with shipping slated for March 11. The 11-inch model starts at $599 with Wi-Fi and 128GB of storage, while the 13-inch model with the same specs is $799. The iPad Air comes in space gray, blue, purple, and starlight (gold).

Image credits: Apple