M4 MacBook Air: Design, price, specs, release

May 24, 2024

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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 next year.

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.

M4 MacBook Air: Release date

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 this year, with an M4 MacBook Air release likely coming in 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.

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. These are the specs for the chip as announced:

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

Models with 1TB or 2TB storage

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

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. We’ll likely hear lots more about AI during the WWDC keynote and then again at the iPhone 16 launch when the A18 chip is unveiled.

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.

Mark Gurman reported in April that Apple may increase the upper memory limit of its high-end desktop Macs, which use higher-end M-series chips. If the M4 has enhanced AI capabilities, it could require more memory regardless of whether it’s a base M4 or something higher. But to maintain costs as well as to persuade customers to consider investing in a higher-level device, Apple could decide that the base M4 won’t get more memory.

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 engery-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.