In summary:
- Macworld analyzes the new M4 iPad Air, revealing minimal upgrades including the M4 chip, 50% more RAM, and new C1X and N1 modems.
- Apple’s marketing materials remain nearly identical to the M3 version, suggesting the company struggles to highlight meaningful improvements for consumers.
- The new modems and possibly the M4 chip appear to be cost-cutting measures, with only the RAM increase offering genuine value.
If there’s one thing we can count on, it’s Apple’s copywriting team. Even when the general public is picking apart new features and laying on the criticism, Apple’s website has a knack for selling the mundane and making it exciting. Even something like relocating the camera can be an opportunity for a rhetorical flourish.
But with the new M4 iPad Air, even Apple’s marketing team has nothing to go on. While the new “Just Landed” ad is pretty cool, it doesn’t actually highlight anything that you couldn’t already do with the old Air, and the one before that. If you don’t want to dive into the spec sheet, here’s what’s new:
- M4 chip
- 50 percent more RAM
- C1X modem
- N1 wireless chip
Half of those (C1X and N1) are cost-cutting measures, and I’d have to guess the M4 chip is cheaper to manufacture than the M3 at this point. The extra RAM is the only thing that’s actually of value, but since there isn’t a single iPad Air user who would be able to tell the difference between 8GB of RAM and 12GB of RAM, I have to assume there’s some financial reason for that too.
It’s such an unimportant upgrade that Apple has barely updated its iPad Air website. When you go to Apple’s homepage, you’ll see a prominent slot for the new iPad Air “supercharged by M4,” but if the image looks familiar, that’s because it’s the same one they used for the M3 Air. Click into the site, and you might experience déjà vu. Just take a look at how similar it is to the M3 site:
What’s more, the M3 model didn’t offer much over the M2 that it replaced. But at least Apple cared enough to update its website properly.
Author: Michael Simon, Executive Editor, Macworld
Michael Simon has been covering Apple for more than 20 years. He started covering rumors with Spymac when the iPod was the iWalk, and has owned nearly every iPhone Apple has ever made. He lives in Connecticut with his wife, son, and far too many gadgets.