Apple has just announced the next update to the iPad Air, switching out the M3 chip for the newer and more efficient M4 chip.

Design

The M4 Air retains the same design that was introduced with the 4th generation iPad Air. Unfortunately, there don’t appear to be any new colors, with the new Air retaining the muted color palette we’ve had since the M2 Air.

Connectivity

Like the M5 iPad Pro, cellular models of the new Air feature Apple’s C1X, for faster, more efficient 5G performance. This iPad also gets Apple’s N1 wireless chip, bringing WIFI 7 support to the Air, as well as Bluetooth 6.

The Air also continues to ship with a USB 3.1 Gen 2 port with speeds of up to 10 GBPS.

Cameras

The M4 Air retains the same 12 MP back camera and 12 MP Center Stage camera that the previous model had.

M4 Chip

The new Air ships with a single configuration of the M4 chip with three performance cores and five efficiency cores. This variation of the M4 also has a 9 core GPU. This configuration is slightly less than the M4 chip that was offered in the M4 iPad Pro, which had 9 and 10 for CPU configurations, as well as a 10-core GPU.

While the chip generations may only differ in number by 1, there are actually some significant differences between the the M3 and M4.

The M4 is built on TSMC’s enhanced 3nm node, which leads this chip being more power efficient and running cooler than its predecessor. This makes it so the new Air can run a peak performance for longer sustained periods. The newer chip is also packaged with faster LPDDR5X memory, which leads to greater memory bandwidth.

The new Air also gets a welcome bump to 12GB of RAM, up from 8 GB, which in the age of AI everything.

The biggest improvement might be the jump in Neural Engine performance, which is 3 times faster than the Neural Engine on the M1 chip. Combined with the additional RAM, the Air has a greater capacity for on-device AI processing than its predecessor, which might actually matter when Apple ships Siri improvements throughout the year.

Pricing

The new Air keeps its same starting price of $599 for the 11-inch Air, and $799 for the 13-inch model. The M4 iPad Air will be available for preorder on Wednesday, March 4, and in stores Wednesday, March 11.