Quietly Brilliant or Subtly Baffling? Apple’s Latest Low-Key Launches
Apple’s latest announcements have quietly landed, skipping the usual grand keynote, yet the upgrades themselves are surprisingly substantial. Here’s a quick breakdown, spiced with a few of my own thoughts.
Entry-Level iPad
It’s great to see a £100 drop on the entry-level iPad, bringing it back down to a friendlier £329. With Apple’s new A16 chip delivering around a 30% performance boost, it makes this device much more accessible. It’s an excellent choice for schools, young learners, or those looking for their first tablet. True, there’s no Apple Intelligence here, but at this price, it’s an accessible and practical choice nonetheless.
iPad Air – now with the M3 Chip
Apple sticking the M3 into the iPad Air is both fantastic and slightly confusing. Fantastic because, at £599, getting M-series performance outside the Pro lineup is seriously appealing—whether you’re creating, consuming content, or playing AAA games, of which there’s thankfully now an abundance. Slightly confusing though, as this move blurs the lines further between the Air and Pro models. Still, at this price point, there’s little room for complaint.
Mac Studio: M4 Max & the Curious M3 Ultra
The updated Mac Studio introduces the M4 Max chip alongside the slightly unexpected M3 Ultra. The appearance of the M3 Ultra is particularly intriguing, given the M3 chip’s known complexity and cost compared to the newer M4. Perhaps the architecture of the M4 Max simply doesn’t allow two chips to combine into an Ultra configuration, meaning Apple might skip the M4 Ultra entirely this cycle. Regardless, the M3 Ultra’s performance stats are insane—no love lost here. Quality of this calibre takes time, and Apple might just be pacing themselves, potentially reserving the M4 Ultra for a future Mac Pro to maintain clear differentiation across their product line.
MacBook Air M4 – Subtle ‘Sky Blue’ and Practical Advice
People have been eagerly awaiting the M4 MacBook Air, and aside from the disappointingly faint ‘Sky Blue’ option—which honestly looks silver—it’s an impressive update. At £999, this device represents exceptional value and should comfortably last users many years. For context, our own M1 MacBook Air remains fast, relevant, and feels like it has many years left, so I’d confidently predict an easy 5-7 years of life for the M4 variant too. My recommendation? If you can afford the extra £200, opt for the model with 10 GPU cores instead of 8; you’ll appreciate the performance boost and doubled storage in the long run.
It’s nice to see Apple’s stock price bouncing back, especially given these announcements were quietly delivered via press releases instead of their typical blockbuster video reveals. It does, however, leave me wondering what bigger surprises Apple might be saving for their next main event…?