Apple launches new MacBook Air models with latest M4 chip, cuts price

(Reuters) -Apple on Wednesday unveiled new MacBook Air models with latest M4 chip and artificial-intelligence features at a price $100 lower than the previous generation, as the company looks to spur sales and persuade customers to upgrade their devices.

The base version of the new series of laptops with the 13-inch screen will be priced at $999, while the 15-inch MacBook Air will start at $1,199. Pre-orders will begin on Wednesday and the devices will be available in-store from March 12.

The introduction of AI-enabled personal computers is expected to drive a recovery in the PC market this year after a post-pandemic slump.

Apple Intelligence is a set of features with access to ChatGPT that allows users to write emails, messages and edit photos among other capabilities.

The suite of AI features debuted on Apple's iPhone devices late last year, and the company has been rolling out the tools in various languages and regions to capture more users.

Apple's Mac sales were $8.99 billion in the holiday quarter, above analysts' estimate of $7.96 billion, according to data complied by LSEG.

Separately in the day, the company unveiled its M3 Ultra processor, which promises better performance than prior generations of Apple's silicon.

The new processor will be provided as an option on Apple's new Mac Studio product, unveiled on Wednesday, enabling it to run large language models with more than 600 billion parameters within the computer.

The new series of Mac Studio devices, aimed at AI developers, video and photo editors, will start at $1,999.

The Mac Studio with the M3 Ultra chip will come with at least 96 gigabytes of memory, while the computer with the M4 Max chip will start at 36 gigabytes of memory.

(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)