MacBook Air M4: Everything we know so far
Yes, Apple just launched the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air M3 models on March 8, 2024, but we're already looking ahead to the next-gen MacBook Air M4 models.
Is it too early to be talking about Apple's next installment of MacBook Airs? Believe it or not, no. These thin, fan-favorite laptops could launch as soon as March 2025 — less than one year away — and we've already seen the Apple M4 chip arrive in the iPad Pro M4.
Here's everything we know so far about the MacBook Air M4 lineup, from its potential release date and price to its rumored specs and design.
Release date
Thanks to a detailed timeline estimate for Apple's M4 Macs provided by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, we have a good idea of when the MacBook Pro M4, MacBook Air M4, and other M4 Macs will launch throughout 2024 and 2025.
Apple's MacBook Pro M4 is expected to launch in late 2024, and the MacBook Air M4 will launch a few months later in Spring 2025, which opens up the release date window to somewhere between mid-March and mid-June 2025.
While this MacBook Air M4 release date is subject to change, it's the best information we have to go off of right now.
After the new MacBook Airs launch, Apple reportedly plans to launch a high-end Mac Studio in mid-2025 (possibly with M4 Pro/Max/Ultra configurations) and an M4 Ultra Mac Pro in the second half of 2025.
Price
Although we haven't heard prices for Apple's upcoming MacBook Air M4 models — and we likely won't until the company officially launches them — most rumors suggest there won't be a price increase between generations.
The 13-inch MacBook Air M3 starts at $1,099 and features an 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. Similarly, the base model 15-inch MacBook Air M3 is equipped with the same specs and starts at $1,299.
Although gaining the more powerful M4 silicon with AI improvements will make the MacBook Air M4 more attractive, the laptop isn't thought to significantly improve in other ways.
Because there are no major rumored upgrades, it's expected Apple will stick to its current base pricing for the Airs with the 13-inch MacBook Air M4 and 15-inch MacBook Air M4 at $1,099 and $1,299, respectively.
Design
The MacBook Air boasts a classic, sleek design that's unlikely to change with the M4 refresh in 2025. Its incredibly thin and light chassis, fanless design, and cool-to-the-touch aluminum exterior will all return with the MacBook Air M4.
We're expecting to see the same 13.6-inch and 15.3-inch size options from the current MacBook Air M3 lineup. And although we'd love to see a new colorway, we're not expecting anything more than the existing Air colors of Midnight, Starlight, Space Gray, and Silver.
Apple's 13-inch MacBook Air M3 weighs just 2.7 pounds and measures 11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches. The 15-inch MacBook Air M3 is slightly larger, with dimensions of 13.4 x 9.35 x 0.45 inches and a weight of 3.3 pounds. It's difficult to imagine the MacBook Air M4 somehow being thinner than the existing M3 versions, but it'd be amazing to see for portability.
Many of the changes we expect Apple to reveal about the MacBook Air M4 when it's announced are internal, thanks to the recently launched M4 chip.
Specs
There aren't many rumors about the upcoming MacBook Air's specs, but we do know it'll be equipped with Apple's M4 chipset.
Although there are multiple rumored variants of Apple's M4 silicon, the next-gen MacBook Air will likely feature only one of those variants: the base M4 chip. The more powerful variants we're expecting — the M4 Pro, M4 Max, and M4 Ultra — are typically reserved for the company's MacBook Pro line and desktop Macs.
And thanks to the release of Apple's iPad Pro M4 at the 'Let Loose' event, we know the makeup of this base chip.
There are two slightly different versions of the base M4 chip. One is paired with iPad Pro models that offer 256GB or 512GB of storage, and the other is paired with 1TB or 2TB models.
The current-gen MacBook Air models understandably don't offer a 256GB storage option, but we're expecting to see the same divide between its lower base storage model with 512GB and its 1TB/2TB models.
Apple's new MacBook Air with 512GB of storage will likely feature an M4 chip with this makeup: a 9-core CPU (3 performance, 6 efficiency), a 10-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine, paired with 8GB of RAM.
MacBook Airs with 1TB or 2TB of storage will be able to accommodate a slightly more powerful M4 chip, which features the same 10-core GPU and 16-core Neural Engine as the chip above, but gains a 10-core CPU (4 performance, 6 efficiency) and is paired with 16GB of RAM for smoother performance.
Both versions of Apple's M4 silicon will be capable of 120GB/s unified memory bandwidth, dynamic caching, hardware-accelerated ray tracing, and mesh shading.
In early Geekbench 6 performance tests for the M4 chip, the iPad Pro generated an impressive single-core score of roughly 3,600 on average and an equally impressive multi-core score of over 14,500 in most benchmarks.
For comparison, that's about 20% higher than our 13-inch MacBook Air M3 review unit's 12,087 multi-core score. Because the MacBook Air shares a fanless design with the iPad Pro, we're expecting to see similar multi-core scores of around 14,500 when it launches (hopefully in 2025).
Apple's pushing the powerful capabilities of its Neural Engine, prepping the world for the era of AI in MacBooks, but we're not exactly sure what that'll look like in terms of software and compatible apps. The iPad Pro currently lacks the software to match its new AI-powered hardware, but we're hoping to hear more about Apple's software plans at WWDC 2024.
Outlook
There's still a lot of missing info when it comes to Apple's next-gen MacBook Air, like its display specs, potential colorways, and other possible hardware improvements. That said, we do know it'll boast fantastic performance upgrades with the powerful M4 silicon inside.
We're also expecting for this latest upgrade to focus heavily on AI-powered features, even though we're not sure exactly what that'll look like just yet. We're hoping to hear more about Apple's future plans for software at WWDC 2024, which kicks off June 10.
Apple likely won't talk about or announce next-gen MacBook Airs, but the company should touch on updates for macOS 15, the operating system we expect to see the MacBook Air M4 launch with. As we collect more rumors and leaks, we'll keep you updated.
