The M4 MacBook Air Teardown Is Out—and Apple Still Doesn't Get It

(Full disclosure: I bought this unit retail from Apple. No review units, no PR access, no launch event invites. Just my scale, my tools, and 15 years of watching laptops die in enterprise environments.)

The Bottom Line: Same Chassis, Same Problems

iFixit just published their M4 MacBook Air teardown, and the verdict is exactly what I expected: 5 out of 10 for repairability. That's not progress—that's maintenance mode.

Apple put the M4 chip in the same chassis they've been using since 2022, doubled the base RAM to 16GB (finally), shaved $100 off the price, and called it a day. The repairability? Virtually identical to the M3. Which was marginally better than the M2. Which was still glued together like a craft project.

Listen, if you're buying this for the silicon, fine. The M4 is efficient. But if you're buying it because you think Apple has turned a corner on repairability? I've got a bridge in Chicago to sell you.

The Friction Factor: What iFixit Found

Let's break down what actually matters for long-term ownership:

The Battery: Better, But Not Best-in-Class

The good news: You can disconnect the battery immediately after removing the bottom cover—no logic board removal required. That's a genuine improvement over the M2's nightmare design where the battery cable ran under the motherboard and was glued down. (The box says "innovation"; my stress test says "adhesive cleanup.")

The bad news: Apple still hasn't adopted the electrically releasing adhesive they put in the iPhone 16. You know, the feature that lets you pop the battery out with a few taps instead of wrestling with stretch-release strips that break halfway through? Yeah, MacBook owners don't get that.

If a pull tab snaps—and they do—you're breaking out the isopropyl alcohol and hoping you don't puncture a lithium cell. For a $999+ laptop in 2026, that's unacceptable.

The Ports: Actually Modular

Here's a surprise: The MagSafe and USB-C ports are replaceable. Not soldered to the motherboard. That's nearly best-in-class and addresses one of the most common failure points on any laptop—mechanical wear from thousands of plug/unplug cycles.

Compare that to most Windows ultrabooks where a broken USB-C port means a $400+ motherboard replacement. Apple gets credit here. (The bar is low, but they cleared it.)

The Display: Software Locks Still Blocking Repairs

This is where Apple's "repair program" reveals itself as theater.

Yes, you can buy a replacement display. Yes, you can physically install it. But when iFixit swapped logic boards between two identical M4 MacBook Airs, System Configuration threw an error. The ambient light sensor wouldn't calibrate. True Tone got disabled.

The manual's only solution? Contact Apple's Self Service Repair Store team—the same team that requires you to buy the part through them to get calibration access. Salvaged parts? Third-party components? Forget it.

This isn't repairability. This is parts pairing with extra steps. Colorado's new law (effective January 2026) explicitly forbids this practice for digital equipment manufactured after that date. Apple just hasn't been forced to comply on MacBooks yet.

The Keyboard: Buried Under Everything

The keyboard and Touch ID sensor? Still welded to a milled aluminum chunk and buried beneath virtually every other component. Liquid spill? Stuck key? You're looking at a logic board removal, antenna disconnection, and a very expensive aluminum assembly replacement.

Framework can swap a keyboard in 15 minutes. Apple requires a complete teardown. The Friction Factor here is astronomical.

The "Old Version" Test: M2 vs. M4

Here's where I get pragmatic. The M4 MacBook Air starts at $999. A refurbished M2 Air with 16GB RAM? Around $750-800.

What do you lose?

• ~15-20% performance (irrelevant for web browsing, Office, video calls)
• 4K webcam (1080p is fine for Zoom)

What do you gain?

• $200+ in your pocket
• The exact same repairability limitations
• The same chassis, same ports, same keyboard

For 90% of users, the M2 is the better value. The M4's improvements are marginal enough that I'd call this an incremental refresh masquerading as a generational leap. (PR fan-fiction at its finest.)

Meanwhile, at Samsung...

As I write this, Samsung's Galaxy S26 Ultra launches in two days. Leaked reports from PhoneArena already suggest there's "no strong selling point" this year. The hardware is reportedly iterative. The camera improvements are marginal. The privacy display tech is interesting but niche.

This is the smartphone market in 2026: The flagships are running out of headroom, and the midrange has never been more competitive. The Galaxy S24 FE offers 85% of the Ultra's utility for half the price. The Pixel 9a is getting 4.5-star reviews as "the best midrange Android phone you can buy."

The pattern is clear. Manufacturers are hitting physical and economic limits, so they're pivoting to software lock-in and subscription features to maintain margins. BMW already admitted the heated seat subscription was a mistake—but only after the backlash. How many other "mistakes" are still in the pipeline?

Who Should Buy the M4 MacBook Air?

Buy it if:

• You need the absolute latest silicon for specific workflows (video encoding, ML tasks)
• You value the 4K webcam for professional streaming
• You found a deal under $900

Skip it if:

• You already own an M2 or M3 Air (seriously, don't upgrade)
• You plan to keep the laptop beyond 5 years (battery replacement will be a headache)
• You believe in actually owning the hardware you purchase

The State of Repair: 2026

Colorado's right-to-repair law is now in effect. Washington and Texas join later this year. The NDAA had repair provisions for military equipment—until Congress stripped them out after industry pushback.

Apple publishes repair manuals on launch day now. That's progress. But they still use software locks to block independent repair, still glue batteries instead of using screws, and still bury keyboards under logic boards.

The M4 MacBook Air is a fine laptop. It's fast, efficient, and reasonably priced. But it's not repairable. It's not future-proof. And it's not the revolution Apple marketing wants you to believe it is.

It's just... slightly better glue.

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Next week: I'm stress-testing the Framework Laptop 16 against the M4 Air in a head-to-head durability audit. One of them is designed to be fixed. The other is designed to be replaced. I'll let you guess which is which.

Questions? Hit me on social. I actually respond.