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Commentary: The iPad Air just got a chip bump. Meanwhile, the most affordable iPad remains cut off from AI and is another year older.
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 Apple has unveiled the iPhone 17e, with key upgrades over the iPhone 16e including the A19 chip, MagSafe, and the Ceramic Shield 2 for a more scratch-resistant screen. The device also has Apple's latest C1X modem for faster 5G, a doubled 256GB of base storage, and a new Soft Pink color option alongside White and Black.
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It's a follow-up to the 2025 iPhone 16E and comes with double the base storage of last year's budget device.
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The iPad Air, the middle child in Apple's tablet lineup, has been upgraded to the M4 chip with increased RAM and… Well, there's not a whole lot else if I'm being honest. At the very least, the new iPad Air M4 models remain at the same price as the iPad Air M3, with the 11-inch version starting at $599 and the 13-inch at $799. I would give Apple more credit if it had increased the starting storage or added literally anything else.
If you put them side by side, you might not be able to tell the difference, but this upgrade would benefit creatives and professionals more than anything. There's a significant performance bump from the M3 to the M4, and the increased RAM is doing a lot of work, especially if you're taking advantage of Apple Intelligence.
If you're using an M1-powered iPad Air or something even older, though, the new iPad Air M4 should be a compelling upgrade. Pre-orders start at 9:15AM ET on March 4, with the units arriving a week later. We expect full reviews will be published by then. But in the meantime, let's dive into what the performance gains might look like and what we're missing out on in this year's iteration of the iPad Air.
iPad Air M4 vs. iPad Air M3: Performance and battery lifeThe most significant difference between the two iPad Air generations is their chipsets. The latest iPad Air launches with the M4 chip versus its predecessor's M3 chip, and it gets a bump in RAM from 8GB to 12GB.
I don't give much fanfare to incremental chip increases because the performance gain is usually min
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 Amazon this week has all-time low prices on the Apple Watch Series 11, with $100 discounts across numerous models of the smartwatch. We first started tracking the return of these deals about a week ago, but this sale has now expanded with many more options on both 42mm and 46mm GPS models.
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The iPhone 17e and iPad Air with M4 cost the same as last year. Somehow, that's a victory.
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 Apple has asked Google to investigate setting up servers in its data centers to run a future version of Siri powered by Gemini, The Information reports.
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New chip, but it's the same $599 for the 11-inch model and $799 for the 13-inch model.
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 Apple's just-announced iPhone 17e comes with doubled base storage compared to last year's predecessor while remaining at a $599 starting price.
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 With the second iOS 26.4 beta, Apple and Google have started testing end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for RCS messages exchanged between iPhone and Android users.
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