Apple's updated M4 MacBook Air could arrive sooner than expected

Apple is set to have a busy spring with new iPads, iPhone SE 4, and M4 in MacBook Air, but those new MacBooks could come earlier according to a new rumor.

Mountains of rumors indicate that Apple is set to announce a handful of products in early 2025. It seemed they would all release in close proximity, perhaps like the week of releases in October, but a new rumor indicates otherwise.

According to an X post from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple will announce new iPads, an iPhone SE, and M4-equipped MacBook Airs in early 2025. However, the MacBook Air update will be released earlier than the other products.

Apple revealed the M3 MacBook Air in both 15-inch and 13-inch sizes on March 4, 2024. That was a short cycle for the 15-inch MacBook Air, which was released in June 2023, but much longer for the 13-inch MacBook Air, which hadn't been touched since June 2022.

It's difficult to make a call based on release pattern alone, but if the previous release date is anything to go by, the M4 MacBook Air could arrive in early March 2025. Discovered code indicates Apple is indeed testing the new MacBooks internally, and they could sport the ultra-wide webcam with Center Stage.

That leaves the new iPad models and iPhone SE 4 for April. The base model iPad 11 could have two models, represented by codes J481 and J482, but those aren't the only new iPads that are rumored.

New iPad models are coming in early 2025 as well

Gurman continues to reiterate that a new iPad Air is due in spring 2025. It would have an M4 processor and little, if anything, else new.

That previous rumor continues to be an odd one considering the iPad Air got an update with M2 and a new 12.9-inch model in May 2024. Placing an M4 in the iPad Air a year later while iPad Pro continues to use the same processor would be an interesting decision.

Apple doesn't mind cannibalization of products, so it's not totally impossible. The iPad Air could be pitched as a powerful yet lower-priced option. But such a move somewhat mirrors the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M4 and MacBook Air with M4 existing in parallel.

Perhaps Apple believes that the thinner design, ProMotion, Thunderbolt, and tandem OLED are enough to drive consumers up the line. Although, there's also the possibility of an M5 iPad Pro upgrade in fall 2025, which would widen the gap between the products again.

Finally, the iPhone SE 4 has been a long-rumored product that would look like an iPhone 14 with a single rear camera. It may have the A17 Pro processor for access to Apple Intelligence.

A wrinkle in time

There is one small issue with our proposed timeline of March/April for releases. Earlier Monday, 9to5Mac shared a report sourced from an anonymous X user that suggests the iPad 11 is due to launch with iPadOS 18.3.

Apple has already started the beta period for iOS 18.3, and all signs point to an iOS 18.4 in the spring before WWDC. So, either iOS 18.3 is coming out very late, or all of these products are arriving much sooner.

Going by this proposed timeline, and assuming Gurman is correct too, Apple could release the M4 MacBook Air in January or February. Then, iPadOS 18.3 would arrive in February, followed by the new iPads.

The iPhone SE 4 is the curveball here. It could arrive with the iPads or later in the spring.

Whatever the schedule, early 2025 is proving to be a busy one for Apple. All of these products could be revealed even while the rumored home hub could arrive at any time in 2025.