Apple teases double-Air announcement as the MacBook Air and the iPad Air are in short supply
Apple will soon unveil updated MacBook Air laptops powered by its latest M4 chips and probably refresh its iPad Air tablet along with the entry-level iPad.
Apple didn’t hold a dedicated media event to announce the new iPhone 16e in February, and it doesn’t look like there will be one to unveil the next MacBook Air.
Mark Gurman wrote in the latest edition of his PowerOn newsletter for Bloomberg that “the M4 MacBook Air unveiling is imminent.” Today, Apple CEO Tim Cook shared a video post on X (Twitter) that teases, “There’s something in the air.”
M4-equipped MacBook Air and iPad Air are imminent
The phrasing of Cook’s tweet suggests that a launch is imminent. So, how do we know this isn’t about the iPad Air? Cook didn’t specifically mention “MacBook Air” in this tweet, did he? Well, we don’t. But, the iPad Air is in stock on the online Apple store, and the MacBook Air seems to have less available inventory. However, some iPad Air models show a shipping estimate between 5 and 7 days.
This week. pic.twitter.com/uXqQaGNkSk
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) March 3, 2025
The iPad Air stock at third-party retailers could be dwindling, as Gurman tweeted that he heard from multiple retail sources that they don’t have any in stock. As per Gurman, this leaves us with the possibility of a double-Air announcement.
“To be fair, the iPad Air is in extremely short supply as well right now,” he tweeted. “So a double Air announcement isn’t out of the question, though the MacBook Air has been in production longer and has less available inventory.”
Gurman also tweeted that Apple’s press briefing this week will be over an hour long, further suggesting the company will unveil updated M4-powered MacBook Airs and iPad Airs in one go. Both machines are Apple’s most popular devices in their category and are ripe for a refresh.
The MacBook Air was last updated in March 2024 with M3 chips and support for two external displays when the lid is closed. In the same month, the company refreshed the iPad Air with the M2 chip, double the storage, faster wireless networking with Wi-Fi 6E and support for the Apple Pencil Pro.
Gurman:
The new iPad Air is important for Apple as it looks to maintain the resurgence spurred by last year’s update. The device did particularly well over the holidays and bested the more advanced iPad Pro. I think the generously sized, 13-inch version was a big part of that success story. At $799, the M2 13-inch iPad Air is just an absolutely ridiculous value. I’ve been using 13-inch iPad Pros since the original version in 2015, and the extra room is amazing for video and side-by-side apps (even if Apple could do more to take advantage of the real estate). The 13-inch iPad Air has my strong recommendation for any customer.
As both devices were last updated around the same time, we think Apple will do the same and unveil the updated MacBook Air and iPad Air models powered by the latest M4 chips. Gurman also expects the entry-level iPad, called just “iPad,” to be updated at the same time as the iPad Air line, so we could actually have three announcements this week: M4 MacBook Air, M4 iPad Air and an updated iPad. As for the iPad Pro, Gurman doesn’t expect an iPad Pro upgrade until Apple’s M5 chip is ready.
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