Preliminary Geekbench results for the upcoming M4 iPad Air have surfaced ahead of its launch, revealing performance improvements over the previous generation. The 13-inch M4 iPad Air with Wi-Fi + Cellular achieved average single-core scores of 3576 and multi-core scores of 12591, representing 17.3 percent and 7.9 percent gains respectively over the M3 model.

The M4 chip in the iPad Air features an 8-core CPU with three performance cores and five efficiency cores, paired with a 9-core GPU. This configuration differs from the iPad Pro's M4 variant, which offers up to 10 CPU cores and 10 GPU cores. The 13-inch M4 iPad Pro still maintains a performance edge with 3.6 percent faster single-core and 9.6 percent faster multi-core scores.

Apple plans to open pre-orders for the new M4 iPad Air at 6:15 a.m. Pacific Time tomorrow, with a March 11 launch date. While the performance gains are modest compared to the M3, the new model represents Apple's continued iteration on its tablet lineup with incremental improvements in processing power.