New Apple iPad Air gets a huge processing boost, additional RAM and Wi-Fi 7 support – up to 30% faster, it's claimed

Apple has kickstarted its week of new product announcements with an iPhone 17e and a new iPad Air.

Now sporting the M4 processor, it's claimed that the new iPad is 30% faster than its predecessor. And, even though there's a global shortage on RAM and storage right now, Apple has bucked the trend and bumped the unified memory in its latest model – up to 12GB from 8GB.

Apple iPad Air M4: at apple.com

The 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air M4 models are now on Apple.com with pre-orders starting this Wednesday 4 March 2026.

- Pre-order from Apple US: available from $599
- Pre-order from Apple UK: available from £599

Also new are the communications chips – Apple has used the N1 and C1X in the iPad Air M4 to support the latest 5G networks and Wi-Fi 7.

There are 11- and 13-inch models again, which will be available in several colours – Space Grey, Blue, Purple, and Starlight (gold). Storage sizes start at 128GB, with 256GB, 512GB and 1TB variants also on offer.

Prices start at £599 in the UK, $599 in the States for the 11-inch Air M4. The 13-incher starts at £799 / $799. Prices can rise all the way up to £1,299 / $1,299 for the 1TB version.

As before, the new iPad Air in either size is compatible with the Apple Pencil Pro and Pencil USB-C. You will also be able to order a Magic Keyboard if you want to use your new tablet as a laptop replacement, too.

iPad Air M4 pre-order details

Pre-orders will open this coming Wednesday, 4 March 2026, although you can see the pricing and other details on Apple.com already. There's no way to place either tablet in your basket at present, however.

The timing is undoubtedly to coincide with other devices Apple is expected to introduce in the coming days. There are rumours of new MacBooks, with an all-new entry-level model alongside more powerful MacBook Pro additions.

And we might even see something in the HomePod space, although that's unconfirmed at present.