Summary created by Smart Answers AI
In summary:
- Macworld analyzes the new M4 iPad Air, revealing Apple’s website remains largely unchanged from the M3 version, reflecting minimal updates between generations.
- The only significant upgrade is 50% more RAM, while the C1X modem and N1 wireless chip appear to be cost-cutting measures rather than performance enhancements.
- Apple’s nearly identical marketing strategy for consecutive iPad Air models highlights the lack of meaningful innovation in this latest release.
If there’s one thing we can count on, it’s Apple’s copywriting team. Even when the general public is picking apart new features and laying on the criticism, Apple’s website has a knack for selling the mundane and making it exciting. Even something like relocating the camera can be an opportunity for a rhetorical flourish.
But with the new M4 iPad Air, even Apple’s marketing team has nothing to go on. While the new “Just Landed” ad is pretty cool, it doesn’t actually highlight anything that you couldn’t already do with the old Air, and the one before that. If you don’t want to dive into the spec sheet, here’s what’s new:
- M4 chip
- 50 percent more RAM
- C1X modem
- N1 wireless chip
Half of those (C1X and N1) are cost-cutting measures, and I’d have to guess the M4 chip is cheaper to manufacture than the M3 at this point. The extra RAM is the only thing that’s actually of value, but since there isn’t a single iPad Air user who would be able to tell the difference between 8GB of RAM and 12GB of RAM, I have to assume there’s some financial reason for that too.
It’s such an unimportant upgrade that Apple has barely updated its iPad Air website. When you go to Apple’s homepage, you’ll see a prominent slot for the new iPad Air “supercharged by M4,” but if the image looks familiar, that’s because it’s the same one they used for the M3 Air. Click into the site, and you might experience déjà vu. Just take a look at how similar it is to the M3 site:
What’s more, the M3 model didn’t offer much over the M2 that it replaced. But at least Apple cared enough to update its website properly.
