New MacBook Air launch expected imminently – all the latest news and rumors live

Seemingly channeling his inner Phil Collins, Apple CEO Tim Cook took to X (formerly Twitter) to post the words "This week" alongside a six-second teaser video that features the words "There’s something in the Air" and a thin blue line that cuts through the last word.

To me and my esteemed colleagues here at TechRadar that would point towards a somewhat imminent announcement of a new MacBook Air, like a refreshed version of the current 13-inch and 15-inch Air laptops with the core addition being Apple's latest M4 chip.

Such specualtion is backed up by Bloomberg reporter and accurate Apple tipster Mark Gurman reporting that Apple is set to announce the MacBook Air M4 any day now.

Gurman also noted that the rumored iPad 11 and a next-generation iPad Air “probably won’t come in the next few days.” Which would indicate what Apple may reveal this week are new MacBook Airs.

Of course, I and others don't know this for sure as Apple remains as tight-lipped as ever, so this article will act as a one-stop-shop for the latest rumors, opinion and speculation so far building into what could be a decent-sized Apple announcement on the horizon.

Let's get into it.

Hello. Mobile Computing Managing Editor Roland Moore-Colyer here to take you through the Apple rumors and TechRadar musings so far. I've been covering such Apple announcements and major Apple events for years, so I feel I'm qualified to have a good ol' stab at speculating what we might see from Apple this week.

Thinking differently...

In days gone by, Apple would normally have a couple of big events a year with an in-person or live streamed event that would usually see the reveal of a handful of products around specific categories, such as phones, tablets and computers.

But as the crew at Cupertino have started to push out ever-more iterative updates to Apple's product lines, these events have given away to announcements on social media and Apple's own newsroom page. To me this lacks the spectacle but does give us regular Apple announcements to chew over.

The last Apple announcement of the newsroom ilk came in the form of the iPhone 16e reveal. Apple simply posted an information drop on its website and had the phone up for pre-order pretty sharpish.

There was a decent amount of information to chew over but one could argue the announcement lacked Cupertino's normal appetite for showmanship. I expect the announcement this week to be very similar to that of the iPhone 16e's.

Expect M4 chip power

So what do I and others expect to see from the Apple announcement? Well as discussed it'll very likely be a pair of new MacBook Air laptops.

While the current pair of MacBook Airs are hardly old, having been refreshed last year with the M3 chip, they don't sport the very latest chips; those can be found in the MacBook Pro 14-inch and MacBook Pro 16-inch.

Those models rock the 'Pro' version of the M4 chip, so we can expect to see non-pro version come to refreshed Airs.

As someone still using the MacBook Air M2, which is a fantastic little laptop that's going very strong after two years of consistent use, I'm not overly convinced Apple really needs to refresh the Air lineup on just a specs basis.

But Apple is Apple, and minor refreshes to its products are to be expected... if not exactly desired.