Apple has officially launched the M4 MacBook Air, bringing the latest Apple silicon to its most popular laptop while also lowering the starting price. The new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models now feature the M4 chip, improved external display support, and a higher-resolution 12MP Center Stage camera. Surprisingly, Apple has also dropped the base price by $100, making the M4 MacBook Air the most affordable version since the M1 model.
“MacBook Air is by far the world’s most popular laptop, and today we’re giving everyone even more reasons to love it, including a big boost in performance with the M4 chip, a new Center Stage camera, and a beautiful new sky blue color,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Combined with its thin and light, fanless design, all-day battery life, and the incredible capabilities of macOS Sequoia with Apple Intelligence, MacBook Air is unlike any other laptop. And with a new lower starting price of $999, MacBook Air delivers more value to consumers than ever before, making this the perfect moment to upgrade or experience the Mac for the first time.”
M4 chip
The biggest upgrade in the new MacBook Air lineup is the M4 chip, which first debuted in the iPad Pro last year before making its way to the MacBook Pro. The M4 chip features a 10-core CPU and either an 8-core or 10-core GPU, depending on the configuration. Apple claims the M4 offers up to 1.6x faster performance in Excel, 2x faster iMovie rendering, and 2x faster Photoshop editing compared to the M1 model.
With its 16-core Neural Engine, the M4 MacBook Air is also optimized for Apple Intelligence, Apple’s AI-powered features coming later this year. Demonstrations showed the M4 MacBook Air handling AI tasks like organizing data, generating text summaries, and integrating with third-party apps through the App Intents framework.
Dual external display support and Center Stage camera upgrade
One of the most significant changes is improved external display support. Unlike its predecessors, which could only drive one external display, the M4 MacBook Air now supports two 6K external monitors at 60Hz while keeping the built-in display open.
Apple has also upgraded the FaceTime camera to a 12MP sensor with Center Stage, the same as in the MacBook Pro and iMac. This allows for higher-resolution images while maintaining 1080p video quality, along with automatic subject tracking for video calls.
New Sky Blue colorway
The 2025 MacBook Air retains its familiar ultra-thin, fanless design but introduces a new Sky Blue color, replacing Space Gray. It joins the existing Midnight, Starlight, and Silver options.
M4 MacBook Air configurations and pricing
Perhaps the biggest surprise is the price drop. The 13-inch MacBook Air starts at $999, while the 15-inch model starts at $1,199—both $100 cheaper than their M3 predecessors. Students can get the 13-inch M4 MacBook Air for $899 with Apple’s educational discount.
The base M4 MacBook Air comes with 16GB of unified memory and a 256GB SSD. The higher-tier model at $1,199 offers a 10-core GPU and 512GB SSD, while the $1,399 configuration bumps the memory up to 24GB.
| Model | Price | CPU | GPU | RAM | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M4 MacBook Air (Base) | $999 | M4 | 8-core | 16GB | 256GB |
| M4 MacBook Air (Step-up) | $1,199 | M4 | 10-core | 16GB | 512GB |
| M4 MacBook Air (Top-tier) | $1,399 | M4 | 10-core | 24GB | 512GB |
Battery life and other specs
Despite the upgraded chip, Apple claims up to 18 hours of battery life, thanks to a slightly larger 53.8Wh battery compared to the M3 model’s 52.6Wh. The Liquid Retina Display remains unchanged at 2560×1664 resolution with 500 nits of brightness, and the keyboard and trackpad also remain identical.
Availability and release date
Pre-orders for the M4 MacBook Air are now open, with the first shipments starting March 12. With a more powerful M4 chip, improved AI features, dual external display support, and a lower price, the new MacBook Air is an even more compelling choice for students, professionals, and everyday users.
