We barely had time to fully explore the 13- and 15-inch MacBook Air models released in March 2024 with the M3 chip, and the next generation — MacBook Air M4 — is already highly anticipated online. Let’s examine when to expect this new model and what features it will offer.

Release Date and Prices

According to Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, the MacBook Air M4 release date is projected for the spring of 2025, approximately in the latter half of March or the first half of June. However, Apple’s plans may still change. Additionally, the release of the Mac Pro with the M4 Ultra chip is scheduled for the second half of 2025, and an upgrade for the Mac Studio is expected mid-year.

Regarding prices, significant differences from the current MacBook Air M3 lineup are unlikely. Currently, the 13-inch model with 8 CPUs, 10 GPUs, 8 GB of RAM, and a 256 GB SSD starts at $1.099, while the 15-inch version with the same specifications starts at $1.299. With similar pricing, the “fourth” Air will appear more attractive due to the more powerful M4 chip and new AI-based features.

Specifications and Innovations

Unlike the Pro models, which will receive the more advanced M4 Pro, M4 Max, and M4 Ultra chips, the MacBook Air will be equipped with only the basic M4 processor. Similar to the new iPad Pro, it will have two versions:

• For SSDs with 512 GB: 9 CPU cores (3 performance and 6 efficiency), 10 GPU cores, 16 Neural Engine cores, and 8 GB RAM.

• For SSDs with 1-2 TB: 10 CPU cores (4 performance and 6 efficiency), 10 GPU cores, 16 Neural Engine cores, and 16 GB RAM.

Any M4 chip will provide support for hardware acceleration of ray tracing and mesh shading, as well as a memory bandwidth of up to 120 GB/s. The main innovation will be the enhanced Neural Engine for AI tasks. However, it is still unclear how this will be implemented in practice, as there are no corresponding applications for the iPad Pro yet.

What Remains Unknown

Other features of the MacBook Air M4, such as design, screen size and resolution, color options, and similar details, remain unknown. Apple did not reveal these details at the WWDC 2024 conference on June 10. However, we do know that the new laptop will come with macOS 15 and new AI-based features. We will continue to follow the news!