MacRumors spotted Amazon cutting up to $109 off the M4 iPad Air this weekend, which is notable because these things just launched a few months ago. The 13-inch 256GB Wi-Fi model is down to $789.99, the 11-inch 256GB is $609.99, and the base 128GB 11-inch is $519.99. That last one is the entry point, and $520 for an M4 iPad is legitimately competitive.
The M4 Air is a weird product to discount already. Apple just refreshed the Air line in March with the M4 chip, Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 6, but kept the 2024 design completely intact. No new pencil support, no OLED, same aluminum chassis and slim bezels. It was basically a spec bump to keep the Air from feeling ancient next to the M4 iPad Pro, which got all the flashy upgrades last year. So the M4 Air is the tablet you buy when you want modern internals without paying Pro prices—and now it’s even cheaper.
The thing is, $520 undercuts Apple’s education pricing and gets you into M-series performance without compromise. The M4 is absurdly fast for an iPad; it’s the same chip in the MacBook Pro. Wi-Fi 7 future-proofs the networking for at least a few years, and the C1X modem is a solid improvement for anyone who might grab a cellular model later. This isn’t the Pro with the tandem OLED and the new Pencil Pro support, but for most people, the Air does everything they actually need.
Amazon running these sales three months post-launch suggests inventory is moving slower than Apple hoped, which makes sense. The M4 Air competes with the still-available M2 Air at $499, and the gap between a four-year-old design with last year’s chip versus this year’s chip in the same design isn’t huge for casual users. If you’re shopping right now and can swing the extra $20, the M4 at $520 is the smarter buy. Otherwise, wait for the M2 to hit $450 and call it a day.
Reporting reference: MacRumors ↗