A week ago, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman wrote Apple was “gearing up” for the release of the M4 MacBook Air in March. February is over, and Gurman hasn’t revised his estimate.
In fact, he’s now predicting it could arrive this week, with new iPads following shortly after.
In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Gurman says that an “unveiling is imminent” and that Apple is set to make “a Mac-related announcement as early as this coming week”.
Gurman has also been predicting refreshes for the regular iPad and iPad Air, and his newsletter predicts that while these are unlikely to arrive before or at the same time as the M4 MacBook Air, they won’t be far behind.
Once again, much of this insight comes from reading the runes of remaining stock in Apple stores. That’s a key indicator because if Apple is letting supplies of specific items run low, it suggests they’re being discontinued.
Gurman reports this is now happening to the iPad Air and regular iPad. “There are now signs that a launch is getting closer,” he writes. “The company is beginning to wind down inventory of the device at its retail stores, a trend we saw with the now-discontinued iPhone SE and the existing MacBook Air.
“There are also some signs of stock shortages for the entry-level iPad, which I expect to get updated the same time as the iPad Air line,” he adds. The iPad Pro, however, won’t be refreshed “until the M5 chip is ready”.
What to expect from the M4 MacBook Air and new iPads
As updates go, we’re expecting all of these to be refreshes, rather than full-on redesigns.
For the M4 MacBook Air, expect a near-identical design, with the laptop available in two sizes: 13 inches for portability, or 15 inches for more screen real estate. As the name suggests, the laptop will get a generational update to the same chip that powers the M4 MacBook Pro.
As the name suggests, the laptop will get a generational update to the same chip that powers the M4 MacBook Pro.
The fanless design of the MacBook Air means performance may not be quite on par, though leaked benchmarks suggest a minimal difference. That means you can expect a speed increase of around 23 to 25% as outlined in our benchmarking of every M-series MacBook.
The iPad updates are set to be similarly iterative, but for the iPad Air, the specifics could make a big difference.
The current version packs an M2 chip, so it’s a question of whether Apple skips the M3 and goes straight to M4 or not. The leaker Evan Blass suspects it’ll include an M3 chip, but Gurman has previously said that he “wouldn’t be terribly surprised if the 2025 models get bumped up to the M4”. Either way, we’re expecting 11- and 13-inch models once again.
As for the regular iPad 11, we’re expecting a jump to the same A17 chip seen in the iPhone 15 Pro and last year’s iPad mini 7. Crucially, this will give the entry-level iPad access to Apple Intelligence.
Gurman is particularly optimistic about the chances of the iPad Air, given the last version “did particularly well over the holidays and bested the more advanced iPad Pro”. Hopefully we’ll get to see it for ourselves this month.
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