fresh airs Errant reference in macOS 15.2 seems to confirm M4 MacBook Airs for 2025 Software reference could point to a release sooner rather than later. Andrew Cunningham Dec 11, 2024 5:27 pm | 8 The 15- and 13-inch M3 MacBook Airs. Credit: Andrew Cunningham The 15- and 13-inch M3 MacBook Airs. Credit: Andrew Cunningham Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreThe macOS 15.2 update that was released earlier today came with a handful of new features, plus something unexpected: an apparently accidental reference to the upcoming M4 MacBook Airs. MacRumors reports that the "Mac16,12" and "Mac16,13" model identifiers reference 13- and 15-inch models of the M4 Air and that both are coming in 2025.That a MacBook Air refresh is planned for next year isn't much of a surprise at this pointin reporting that pretty much nailed the details of the first M4 Macs, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has said that the Air, the Mac Studio, and the Mac Pro are all slated for updates throughout 2025.But a reference in the current release of macOS could point to a launch sooner rather than later; the M4 Mac mini was referenced in a macOS update in mid-September around a month and a half before it was released. The M3 Airs came out in March this year, but Apple has been known to put out new Macs as early as January in recent years.The M4 isn't a gigantic update over the M3we tested its performance in the M4 iMac, though a passively cooled MacBook Air version would likely be a bit slower at heavier workloadsbut the fully enabled version does come with two extra CPU cores and some nice quality-of-life updates. Those updates include Thunderbolt 5 ports and support for a total of three displays (two external and the built-in screen), up from a total of two for the M1, M2, and M3 MacBook Airs.We didn't get M4 MacBook Airs in November, but Apple did "update" the M2 and M3 versions from 8GB to 16GB of RAM without increasing their prices. The RAM increase will be useful for all kinds of things, though it could be a harbinger of increased memory requirements for upcoming Apple Intelligence features.Andrew CunninghamSenior Technology ReporterAndrew CunninghamSenior Technology Reporter Andrew is a Senior Technology Reporter at Ars Technica, with a focus on consumer tech including computer hardware and in-depth reviews of operating systems like Windows and macOS. Andrew lives in Philadelphia and co-hosts a weekly book podcast called Overdue. 8 Comments