What You Need to Know About the New M4 iPad Air: Apple’s new M4-powered iPad Air lineup delivers a major performance leap while maintaining a starting price of $799 for the 11-inch model and $1,099 for the 13-inch version. Here is the complete breakdown of pricing and storage configurations for both Wi-Fi and Cellular models in Canada.

Apple has officially unveiled the latest iPad Air, introducing the M4 chip to the lineup to provide a significant performance leap without increasing the starting price. The new model focuses heavily on speed, AI capabilities, and next-generation connectivity, making it a major upgrade for users moving from previous generations, according to the company. The news was delivered through a press release on Apple’s website.

Available in both 11-inch and 13-inch sizes, the iPad Air with M4 is up to 30% faster than the previous M3 model and 2.3x faster than the M1 version. This boost is paired with 12GB of unified memory. Apple says that is a 50% increase over the previous generation, which brings higher memory bandwidth to handle demanding AI tasks and professional workflows.

“iPad Air gives users more ways than ever to be creative and productive, offering powerful performance and incredible versatility to help them turn their ideas into reality,” said Bob Borchers, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing.

Performance and AI hardware

The M4 chip features an 8-core CPU and a 9-core GPU, supporting hardware-accelerated ray tracing for more realistic gaming and 4x faster pro rendering compared to the M1. A new 16-core Neural Engine makes the device a powerhouse for on-device AI, such as transcribing notes or removing video backgrounds in Final Cut Pro.

Faster connectivity with N1 and C1X

For the first time, iPad Air includes the Apple-designed N1 wireless chip and C1X cellular modem. These additions enable Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 support. Cellular models now offer up to 50 percent faster data performance and are 30 percent more energy-efficient than the M3 model.

iPad Air M4 Canadian Pricing (Same as Last Year’s M3 iPad Air)

11-inch iPad Air (M4) Pricing

• 128GB: $799 Wi-Fi / $999 (Wi-Fi + Cellular)
• 256GB: $949 Wi-Fi / $1149 (Wi-Fi + Cellular)
• 512GB: $1,229 Wi-Fi / $1429 (Wi-Fi + Cellular)
• 1TB: $1,509 / $1709 (Wi-Fi + Cellular)

13-inch iPad Air (M4) Wi-Fi Pricing

• 128GB: $1,099 Wi-Fi / $1299 (Wi-Fi + Cellular)
• 256GB: $1,249 Wi-Fi / $1449 (Wi-Fi + Cellular)
• 512GB: $1,529 Wi-Fi / $1729 (Wi-Fi + Cellular)
• 1TB: $1,809 Wi-Fi / $2009 (Wi-Fi + Cellular)

The new iPad Air is available in blue, purple, starlight, and space grey. Pre-orders begin in Canada on Wednesday, March 4 on Apple.ca, with official availability on Wednesday, March 11. Are you going to upgrade?