Cupertino's news

Apple launches new iPhone 17e, iPad Air and MacBook with M5 chip

Company holds down price on iPhone and iPad amid strong demand for memories

by Luca Salvioli

3 March 2026

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

In two days, Apple launched new products across virtually the entire range - iPhone, Mac, iPad - keeping prices in line on the mobile side, introducing new proprietary chips and increasing storage capacity, at a time of price tension in the market due to the strong demand for memory driven by the artificial intelligence boom.

iPhone 17e holds the price

At the centre of the launch is the iPhone 17e, which comes a year after the iPhone 16e and retains the starting price of €729, but doubles the base storage to 256 GB.

iPhone 17e incorporates the A19 chip, the same as the standard iPhone 17, and the new proprietary C1X cellular modem, already featured in iPhone Air and developed in Munich, an evolution of the previous generation's C1, along with the N1 wireless chip and MagSafe magnetic charging.

The display remains at 6.1 inches, slightly more compact than the 6.3 inches of the iPhone 17, and the design is essentially unchanged.

Compromises compared to the superior models include a single 48 megapixel rear camera, no high refresh rate and no Dynamic Island interface.

New iPad Air with M4 chip

Apple has also updated the iPad Air, which cosmetically remains identical but switches from the M3 chip to the new M4, with a claimed 30 per cent increase in performance. The tablet also integrates the C1X modem, the N1 wireless chip and support for Wi-Fi 7.

Prices remain unchanged: 669 euro for the 11-inch version and 869 euro for the 13-inch version.

MacBook: more storage and M5 chip

The new wave of spring innovations also includes a revamp of the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro range, with the introduction of the M5, M5 Pro and M5 Max chips.

The 13-inch MacBook Air starts at €1,249 and now offers 512 GB of base storage (twice as much as the previous generation), while the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Pro starts at €2,599 - up from its predecessor - but and includes 1 tera of standard storage.

The wait for the fold

The new iPhone 17e and iPad Air have been available for pre-order since 4 March and arrive in shops on 11 March. The big announcements for the range, as usual, will come in September: the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max models are expected to debut and, most importantly, the company's first foldable iPhone, which is eagerly awaited by the industry, as evident at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, for its ability to push a market that has so far remained niche.

Luca SalvioliCoordinatore Lab24
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Luogo: Milano
Argomenti: Tecnologia, Data journalism, Giornalismo digitale
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