Apple (AAPL) is updating its top-selling laptop, the MacBook Air, with its latest M4 processor a day after showing off an upgraded iPad and iPad Air. The chip is expected to provide two times the performance of the M1-equipped MacBook Air and 32 times that of Intel-based Airs while using certain apps.
Available in 13-inch and 15-inch models, the M4 Airs are also $100 cheaper than their predecessors with the 13-inch versions starting at $999 rather than $1,099 and the 15-inch starting at $1,199, down from $1,299.
Apple’s Mac line has outperformed its iPhone, iPad, and Wearables businesses in terms of year-over-year sales, with revenue climbing 2% in 2024. The company’s iPhone segment was flat year over year, while iPad and Wearables sales fell 6% and 7%, respectively. Mac revenue also jumped more than $1 billion in Q1, while iPhone revenue declined by roughly $564 million.
The refreshed MacBook Air lineup should continue the positive trend for the segment as consumers and businesses look to upgrade to the company’s latest offering.
The revamped Airs’ M4 chips now feature 10-core CPUs and 10-core GPUs and support for up to 32GB of memory. That’s up from the M3’s 8-core CPU and 24GB of memory. In practice, that means the Airs pack more performance while still keeping their fanless design.
During a demonstration, a 15-inch Air ran a webAI’s 22 billion parameter Companion large language model, rendered a 4K image using the Blender app, opened several productivity apps, and ran the game Wuthering Waves without any kind of slowdown.
The laptops also now include Apple’s Center Stage camera, which keeps you in frame even if you move around while on video calls, and can run two external displays in addition to their main display, thanks to the inclusion of Thunderbolt 4 ports.
Battery life is expected to top out at 18 hours for both the 13-inch and 15-inch models.
Naturally, the Airs come with Apple’s macOS Sequoia 15.4 operating system and the company’s Apple Intelligence generative AI platform. That includes Apple Intelligence’s writing tools that help you summarize and rephrase content, its photo editing tools, and more.
Apple Intelligence is meant to help drive sales of Apple’s products, but so far it’s been slow going as the company continues to work to roll out the service’s various features.
Apple’s PC rivals have hit a similar snag with Microsoft’s (MSFT) AI-capable Copilot+ PCs. Despite expectations that the new category of computers would boost PC sales in the fourth quarter, market research firm Gartner said PC sales rose just 1.4% during the period and 1.3% throughout 2024.
