Apple is speeding up the iPad Air with the M4 upgrade, starting at $599

Apple on Monday unveiled a new iPad Air powered by an M4 chip.

The company says the device is designed to be faster, thanks to an updated neural engine and more memory, making it better for AI uses. This Air is said to be 30% faster than the M3 iPad Air and 2.3 times faster than the M1 version.

However, the new device still sells for the same price of $599 for the 11-inch model and $799 for the 13-inch model. For education customers, the discount brings the price down to $549 for the 11-inch iPad Air, while the 13-inch model starts at $749.

The iPad Air now has an 8-core CPU and 9-core GPU, making it a suitable choice for gaming or photo editing. Meanwhile, the device’s unified memory has increased by 50%, to 12GB, and the memory bandwidth is now up to 120GB/s, which Apple says will help users run AI models faster than on older devices.

The 16-core Neural Engine is also supposed to be three times faster than the M1 Neural Engine, which will help run AI models on the device.

The updated Air offers support for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, and is powered by the company’s new chipsets for wireless and cellular, the N1 and C1X. The devices are still the same size as before, at 9.74 x 7.02 inches for the 11-inch model and 11.04 x 8.46 inches for the 13-inch model.

We get a 12-megapixel central front camera and a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera on the back. As always, you can use Apple accessories with your device, like the Magic Keyboard, Apple Pencil, or Apple Pencil Pro.

The updated iPad Air will be available for pre-order on Wednesday, March 4 at Apple.com and through the Apple Store app in 35 countries and regions, including four colors available in the US: blue, purple, starlight, and space gray. Storage options are 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB.

The new iPad is one of several announcements planned this week, along with the new iPhone 17e and expected upgrades to the MacBook range. The launches are timed to coincide with the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, ​​where Apple’s smartphone rivals like Samsung, Xiaomi, Honor and others showcase their latest innovations and new devices.

Apple does not participate in MWC or other trade shows, preferring to showcase its products at its own events. This week it will launch a series of new products with hands-on events in selected cities.