Apple released M3-powered MacBook Air laptops like the MacBook Air 13-inch M3 and MacBook Air 15-inch M3 in March 2024, but an Apple M4-driven equivalent may be coming soon Given the popularity of the MacBook Air Given the popularity of the MacBook Air, a refreshed model with an M4 chip is probably inevitable.

Apple has not officially announced the MacBook Air M4 line, but rumors suggest that these laptops could appear in early 2025, a full year after the Apple M3 models. Details are scarce at this time, but these laptops will likely maintain the same design as the current models, with the biggest difference being the M4 chip.

Here is what we have heard so far about the MacBook Air M4.

According to Bloomberg reporter and Apple informant Mark Gurman, Apple will reportedly launch the MacBook Air M4 in the first quarter of 2025. If true, these laptops are expected to appear between January and March.

Apple launched the MacBook Air M3 in March 2024. Therefore, a March 2025 launch is most likely. Nevertheless, it is possible that the laptop will appear later. After all, the MacBook Air M2 was launched in July 2022; there is no need to wait that long for the M4 MacBook Air, but nothing is certain.

I am confident that the MacBook Air M4 release date will be before the critical back-to-school shopping season.

Gurman's source claims that the MacBook Air M4 model “will resemble the current design launched in 2022.” Apple will soon begin production of new 13- and 15-inch MacBook Airs codenamed J713 and J714. This claim is consistent with a previous report by display analyst Russ Young that display panels for the new MacBook Air will begin shipping in October (via MacRumors).

All modern MacBooks, including the MacBook Airs, have the flat utilitarian design introduced in the 2021 MacBook Pro 14-inch and MacBook Pro 16-inch. Apple will probably keep this design for a couple of years (if not longer), so it is not surprising that the M4 Air will probably not be redesigned.

While Apple will reportedly not change the design of the MacBook Air, the company's thin and light laptop will reportedly feature the same Apple M4 chip as the iPad Pro M4 and MacBook Pro 14-inch M4. The chip has a 10-core CPU, a 10-core GPU, and a Neural Engine that can hit 38 TOPS (trillions of operations per second) of AI performance.

In Geekbench, which measures overall CPU performance, the MacBook Pro M4 we reviewed scored faster than the M3 model in the single-core test, beating out competing Windows laptops. In multi-core tests, the M4 MacBook Pro was on par with the Asus ProArt PX13 with AMD Ryzen chips, but outperformed the Dell XPS 13 with both Snapdragon X Elite and Intel Lunar Lake chips.

Given that the MacBook Air is a fanless laptop and therefore susceptible to thermal throttling, we would expect it to perform less well than the MacBook Pro, which has an internal fan. However, a significant performance difference is not expected. If anything, the M4 MacBook Air could perform on par with the M4 iPad Pro, outperforming competing tablets and even some laptops in Geekbench benchmark tests.

As for battery life, the M4 MacBook Pro lasted an impressive 18 hours and 31 minutes in our battery life test; the MacBook Air laptop has a smaller battery than the MacBook Pro, so we do not expect comparable battery life However, the MacBook Air laptop only lasted a little over 15 hours. The M4 MacBook Air could last close to 16 hours.

Since Apple has not announced the MacBook Air M4, it is best to accept all rumors with healthy skepticism. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that a MacBook Air with M4 will be available by the summer of 2025.

Stay tuned as we will update this article as new information and rumors about the MacBook Air M4 come in!