Apple is generally pretty good about telegraphing what users they are targeting with a particular new product. With the M4 iPad Air, Apple appears to trying to entice users with an M1 iPad Air and older, based on the number of M1 comparisons in their press release.
It’s not a secret that most of Apple’s product lines are pretty mature at this point, so year over year upgrades are generally pretty incremental. As a for-profit company, they are, of course, happy to take your money, but even Apple knows most people aren’t going to upgrade a device year over year.
But if you have been holding on to your M1 iPad Air, and are considering an upgrade to the M4 model, what do you get for your $599?
Below is a list of the major differences between the two iPads, with the bolded items being the upgrades I think are particularly impactful.
| Spec | M1 iPad Air | M4 iPad Air |
|---|---|---|
| Chip | Apple M1 | Apple M4 |
| CPU | 8-core (4 performance + 4 efficiency) | 8-core (3 performance + 5 efficiency) |
| GPU | 8-core | 9-core |
| Neural Engine | 16-core | 16-core (3x faster than M1) |
| Media Engine | Hardware-accelerated H.264 and HEVC Video decode engine Video encode engine | Hardware-accelerated 8K H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW Video decode engine Video encode engine ProRes encode and decode engine AV1 decode |
| Unified Memory | 8GB | 12GB |
| Memory Bandwidth | 68.25 GB/s | 120 GB/s |
| Storage Options | 64GB 256GB | 128GB 256GB 512GB 1TB |
| Display Sizes | 10.9-inch only | 11-inch (actually 10.9-inch) and 13-inch (actually 12.9-inch) |
| Display Technology | Liquid Retina IPS | Liquid Retina IPS |
| Rear Camera | 12MP Wide, ƒ/1.8 | 12MP Wide, ƒ/1.8 |
| Front Camera | 12MP Center Stage (portrait oriented) | 12MP Center Stage (landscape oriented) |
| Speakers | Landscape stereo | Landscape stereo |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) | Wi-Fi 7 (via N1 chip) |
| Bluetooth | 5.0 | 6.0 (via N1 chip) |
| Thread Support | No | Yes (via N1 chip) |
| Cellular Modem | Qualcomm | Apple C1X |
| USB-C Speed | USB 3 .1 Gen 2 (up to 10Gb/s) | USB 3 .1 Gen 2 (up to 10Gb/s) |
| Ray Tracing | No | 2nd-gen hardware-accelerated |
| Mesh Shading | No | 2nd-gen hardware-accelerated |
| Apple Pencil Support | Apple Pencil 2nd gen, Apple Pencil (USB-C) | Apple Pencil Pro, Apple Pencil (USB-C) |
| Apple Intelligence Support | Yes | Yes |
| Biometrics | Touch ID | Touch ID |
| Starting Price (11-inch) | $599 | $599 |
| Starting Price (13-inch) | N/A | $799 |
As with everything in life, this upgrade is not all positive. The biggest “downgrade” in my opinion, is the more muted color selection the newer iPad Airs have vs. the M1 models. This may not be a big deal to you if you’re using a case.
Also, cellular models of the M4 Air are eSim only, whereas the M1 Air has a physical sim card slot in addition to its eSim support.
The M4 iPad Air will go up for preorder on March 4th, and will be available in stores on March 11th.
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