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Top Stories: MacBook Air, Mac Studio, iPad Air, and iPad Updates

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There was definitely "something in the air" this week as Tim Cook promised, with Apple making a number of product announcements to breathe new life into several of its Mac and iPad products.

top-stories-2025-03-08.jpg

Some aspects of the announcements were expected while others were a bit of a surprise as was Apple looking to entice potential customers with some interesting choices for its new products, so read on below for all the details!

Everything Apple Announced This Week

It was a busy week for Apple with multiple new products announced on both Tuesday and Wednesday. We're now caught up on what's been rumored for a spring launch, so check out our recap and video going over everything Apple announced.

Everything-M3-iPad-Air-M4-MacBook-Air-Mac-M4-Studio-Thumb-3-2.jpg

All of the new products are available for pre-order now and will launch on Wednesday, March 12.

Apple Announces New MacBook Air With M4 and 'Sky Blue' Color Option

Apple on Wednesday announced refreshed 13- and 15-inch MacBook Air models featuring the M4 chip, an upgraded Center Stage camera, and a new Sky Blue color option to replace Space Gray.

Apple-MacBook-Air-hero.jpg

The M4 chip features a 10-core CPU, an up to 10-core GPU, and support for up to 32GB of unified memory, and Apple says the new ‌MacBook Air‌ is up to 2x faster than the M1 model.

The M4 MacBook Air also comes with a lower $999 starting price, allowing Apple to simplify the lineup by eliminating both the M2 and M3 models.

Apple Announces New Mac Studio With M4 Max and M3 Ultra Chips, Thunderbolt 5, and More

Wednesday's other big announcement was an updated Mac Studio with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chip options, Thunderbolt 5 ports, and more.

mac-studio-green.jpg

The M4 Max chip was already released last year in the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro, and it can be configured with up to a 16-core CPU, up to a 40-core GPU, and up to 128GB of unified memory. The all-new M3 Ultra chip features up to a 32-core CPU with 24 performance cores and eight efficiency cores, up to 80 GPU cores, and up to 512GB of memory.

Apple Announces New iPad Air With M3 Chip, Updated Magic Keyboard

Apple on Tuesday introduced new 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air models with the M3 chip, along with an updated Magic Keyboard for the device.

M3-iPad-Air.jpg

With the M3 chip, the new iPad Air should offer up to 20% faster performance compared to the previous-generation model with the M2 chip, which was released in May 2024. In addition, the M3 chip brings hardware-accelerated ray tracing to the iPad Air for the first time, providing improved graphics rendering in games.

The new Magic Keyboard for the iPad Air features a larger trackpad and function keys for easy access to features like display brightness and volume controls.

Apple Unveils 11th-Gen iPad With A16 Chip and More Storage

Alongside the M3 iPad Air, Apple on Tuesday also announced the 11th-generation iPad, now featuring the A16 chip and more storage.

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While the new iPad won't support Apple Intelligence, the A16 chip represents a significant upgrade over the A14 Bionic chip in the previous model, and the new iPad offers a better value as Apple has doubled the starting storage to 128GB. There's also a new 512GB tier at the high end.

MacRumors Newsletter

Each week, we publish an email newsletter like this highlighting the top Apple stories, making it a great way to get a bite-sized recap of the week hitting all of the major topics we've covered and tying together related stories for a big-picture view.

So if you want to have top stories like the above recap delivered to your email inbox each week, subscribe to our newsletter!

Article Link: Top Stories: MacBook Air, Mac Studio, iPad Air, and iPad Updates
 
Article Link
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I think it’s been a good week for Apple.

- iPad 11 with A16 and 128gb base storage without price increase. 👍 No it doesn’t get Apple Intelligence, but the majority of target buyers won’t care.
- iPad Air with M3 without price increase. 👍 Also new Keyboard for iPad Air.
- Macbook Air 13 and 15 with M4 and a price cut. 👍👍 They have simplified the Air line by eliminating the M2 entry model, but it might have been nice if they could have kept the M3 as the new entry model with a price cut. Oh well. It’s safe to say M2 and M3 Airs will soon be available at clearance prices so easier for some people to get into a Mac.
- Mac Studio with M4 Max and M3 Ultra with no price increase. 👍 Crazy powerful machines for those who need it.
 
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Reactions: _Mitchan1999, NomoN, AppleEnthusiast1995 and 2 others
One question I thought, is the new iPad Air compatible with the previous iPad Air Magic Keyboard? Ie the one sold for the Pro and air at the time of the iPad Air 4.
 
Warped9 said:
I think it’s been a good week for Apple.

- iPad 11 with A16 and 128gb base storage without price increase. 👍 No it doesn’t get Apple Intelligence, but the majority of target buyers won’t care.
- iPad Air with M3 without price increase. 👍 Also new Keyboard for iPad Air.
- Macbook Air 13 and 15 with M4 and a price cut. 👍👍 They have simplified the Air line by eliminating the M2 entry model, but it might have been nice if they could have kept the M3 as the new entry model with a price cut. Oh well. It’s safe to say M2 and M3 Airs will soon be available at clearance prices so easier for some people to get into a Mac.
- Mac Studio with M4 Max and M3 Ultra with no price increase. 👍 Crazy powerful machines for those who need it.
Click to expand...
The new keyboard for iPad Air is only available in white. Call me cynical but I think it’s a shame a black option isn’t available. The only way to get a black Magic Keyboard for iPad is to buy an older version or buy an iPad Pro.

Kings of the upsell.

Want a black version? That’s Pro
 
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MacRumors said:


There was definitely "something in the air" this week as Tim Cook promised, with Apple making a number of product announcements to breathe new life into several of its Mac and iPad products.
Click to expand...
I recall saying that 'If he said “there’s something in the studio”, I’d be all over this.'. Well, there was, and I am. 🤣
 
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Fuzzball84 said:
The new keyboard for iPad Air is only available in white. Call me cynical but I think it’s a shame a black option isn’t available. The only way to get a black Magic Keyboard for iPad is to buy an older version or buy an iPad Pro.

Kings of the upsell.

Want a black version? That’s Pro
Click to expand...
Oh, I didn’t realize it was available only in white. Thats a ridiculous omission.
 
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Warped9 said:
Oh, I didn’t realize it was available only in white. Thats a ridiculous omission.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it’s a real shame.

Loads of people seem to prefer black as it copes with wear and tear better and sometimes just looks better.

So now base iPad and iPad Air only come with white keyboards. Which is a real shame.
 
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I’m running out to the Apple Store this morning to take in a device for trade and get the new MBA 13” in Sky Blue. Should have it in hand middle of next week. 😃. It was an excellent week for Apple and for me.
 
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A busy week for Apple? With what? Much needed updates that could have happened last year…

When you peel it off to what exactly has been released:

Some chip swaps, some color changes, a downgrade in modem capacity.

We can wait another two years???

Oh, I forgot to mention the announcement of delays of software which was brought with big noice from Apple last year.

Busy indeed 🤥
 
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Reactions: _Mitchan1999
HJM.NL said:
A busy week for Apple? With what? Much needed updates that could have happened last year…

When you peel it off to what exactly has been released:

Some chip swaps, some color changes, a downgrade in modem capacity.

We can wait another two years???

Oh, I forgot to mention the announcement of delays of software which was brought with big noice from Apple last year.

Busy indeed 🤥
Click to expand...
Obviously you aren’t clued into how Apple’s strategy of chip and product release work. They only redesign the actual computers on a typical cadence of around 5 years or so. These upgrades are better than anything I see from windows computers manufacturers.
 
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If they put the M4 Ultra in the Mac Studio there would be zero reason for anyone to ever buy a Mac Pro. I personally don't think that's a bad thing, but obviously Apple isn't ready to bury the Mac Pro yet.
 
Warped9 said:
If they put the M4 Ultra in the Mac Studio there would be zero reason for anyone to ever buy a Mac Pro. I personally don't think that's a bad thing, but obviously Apple isn't ready to bury the Mac Pro yet.
Click to expand...
I wonder if we aren’t approaching the maximum performance limit ?
 
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