Apple Refreshes iPad Air with M4 Chip, Prices Unchanged

Apple unveiled a refreshed iPad Air on Monday, introducing the company's latest M4 processor to its midrange tablet lineup while keeping starting prices unchanged at $599 for the 11-inch model and $799 for the 13-inch version. The update, announced as part of a series of product launches this week, emphasizes internal performance gains without altering the device's external design or display technology. Preorders open on March 4, with devices shipping to customers starting March 11.

The new iPad Air replaces the previous M3 chip with the more powerful M4, which Apple states delivers up to 30 percent faster CPU performance compared to the prior generation. It maintains the same eight-core CPU and nine-core GPU configuration but includes enhancements like second-generation hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray tracing, making it four times faster for 3D rendering than the M2-based model from two years ago. The 16-core Neural Engine is three times faster than its counterpart in the original M1 iPad Air, aiding tasks such as running AI models. Unified memory has increased to 12GB across all configurations, up from 8GB, with bandwidth rising to 120GB per second for smoother...