iPad Air M4 Keeps Price, Boosts RAM and Chip

Apple swaps in a faster M4 and more RAM—and keeps the price.

The middle child of Apple's tablet lineup gets a modest but real upgrade: the iPad Air moves to the M4 chip and bumps RAM from 8GB to 12GB, delivering a noticeable performance lift for demanding apps and multitasking. What it does not do is trim the price or widen the feature gap in any dramatic way. The new Air remains the same price as its predecessor, at $599 for the 11-inch model and $799 for the 13-inch variant, according to early hands-on previews. In other words, Apple bet on more muscle rather than more storage or flashy extras.

Two key takeaways dominate the early impressions. First, the M4 chip is the headline—the heart of the upgrade. Engadget notes that the performance delta between the M3 and M4 is significant, and the added RAM is doing a lot of the heavy lifting, especially when you’re juggling larger apps or Apple Intelligence features. If you’re stepping up from an iPad Air with an M1 or older silicon, the new Air M4 should feel materially snappier in everyday tasks and creative workflows. If you already own an iPad Air with an M3 or newer, the difference is more subtle but real for power users who push tablets with multiple apps and large assets at once.

Second, the enhancement isn’t accompanied by a storage bump or a bevy of new features. Apple didn’t raise the starting storage tier, and there aren’t other headline changes crammed into this cycle. That means the upgrade is primarily about breathing room and speed rather than reshaping the Air’s value proposition. For creatives who rely on apps like photo and video editors, the extra RAM can translate into smoother timelines, more simultaneous projects, and less swapping between memory pages—bagging real-world gains even if the chassis looks familiar.

The launch timeline reinforces the midrange positioning. Pre-orders begin at 9:15 a.m. Eastern Time on March 4, with unit deliveries expected about a week later. That timing puts the M4 squarely in the spring product cadence, a familiar window for Apple’s midrange refreshes. For buyers weighing the Air against the bigger Pro line, the Air M4 remains the more affordable, lighter option, trading some Pro-grade features for portability and price. Apple’s Pro lineup will still offer more capable processing for heavy rendering, but at a higher price tag—one that isn’t changed by this week’s Air refresh.

From a practitioner’s standpoint, there are a few concrete signals to watch next:

Verdict: Buy if you’re running an older iPad Air and crave speed, especially for multitasking and creative apps; skip if you already own an M3 or you’re primarily satisfied with your current Air and don’t need extra RAM. The price stays the same, the chip gets faster, and the RAM gets more capacious—the math favors an upgrade for many midrange users who want smoother performance without stepping up to the Pro line.