Apple Quietly Upgrades M4 MacBook Air and Pro Orders to M5 Chip
Apple recently launched its M5 series of MacBooks with a surprisingly low-key announcement, foregoing a traditional livestream event in favor of newsletters and brief YouTube updates. However, a notable development has emerged: Apple is upgrading existing orders for the M4 MacBook Air and Pro to the newer M5 chip, at no additional cost to customers.
Order Cancellations and Unexpected Upgrades
Reports surfaced on Reddit from multiple users detailing a peculiar situation. Customers who had placed orders for M4 MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models experienced order cancellations followed by re-orders configured with the M5 processor. Crucially, these upgraded orders did not incur any price increases.
Apple’s Rationale: Avoiding Returns
Commenters on Reddit suggest that Apple’s strategy is rooted in minimizing returns. The cost associated with shipping a product and then processing a return can be substantial. Apple appears to be proactively offering the upgrade to avoid this expense, extending the offer to customers regardless of whether they own other Apple products.
M5 Chip Performance Gains
According to Apple, the M5 chip delivers performance improvements over the M4. The company claims up to a 20% performance gain with the GPU experiencing a 30% speed boost. Tasks leveraging artificial intelligence are reported to spot a fourfold increase in performance. The M5 Pro and M5 Max are also expected to deliver around a 30% performance improvement, with ray tracing workloads benefiting from up to a 35% increase in speed and raw GPU performance increasing by approximately 20%.
New M5 MacBook Air Features
The M5 MacBook Air, launched on March 3, 2026, features several upgrades over the M4 model. The most significant change is the M5 chip itself, offering substantial performance gains, particularly in AI-related tasks. 9to5Mac reports that the M5 delivers up to 4x faster performance for AI tasks compared to the M4.
Storage capacity has also been increased, with the base model now offering 512GB, double the 256GB found in the previous generation. Configuration options extend up to 4TB, also double the previous maximum. The SSD in the M5 MacBook Air boasts twice the read/write performance of its predecessor. The new model also incorporates Apple’s N1 wireless chip, supporting Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.
M5 MacBook Air Design and Pricing
As PCMag notes, the external design of the 2026 MacBook Air remains unchanged from the M4 generation. The starting price for the M5 MacBook Air is $1,099, a $100 increase from the M4 model’s original price of $999.
Looking Ahead
Apple’s decision to upgrade existing M4 orders to the M5 chip demonstrates a commitment to customer satisfaction and a strategic approach to managing returns. The M5 chip represents a significant step forward in performance, particularly for AI workloads, and positions the MacBook Air as a compelling option for users seeking a powerful and portable computing experience.