MacBook Air 13-inch (M5) vs MacBook Air 13-inch (M2)

The M2 is the Air that went flat. Apple announced it on 6 June 2022 and had it in US stores on 15 July 2022, with the squared-off body, MagSafe 3 and the 13.6-inch screen that the M5 still uses. When Apple announced the M5 model on 3 March 2026, it left the outside alone. What changed is what you can’t see: the chip, the memory and storage you start with, the camera, the wireless, and how many monitors it can run.

What changed in four years

Spec	MacBook Air 13-inch (M5)	MacBook Air 13-inch (M2)
Announced	3 March 2026	6 June 2022
CPU	10-core: 4 super, 6 efficiency	8-core: 4 performance, 4 efficiency
GPU	8-core, or 10-core to order	8-core, or 10-core to order
Memory bandwidth	153GB/s	100GB/s
Memory	16GB; 24GB or 32GB to order	8GB or 16GB; up to 24GB to order
Storage	512GB, up to 4TB	256GB, up to 2TB
Camera	12MP Center Stage, 1080p video	1080p FaceTime HD
External displays	Two, with the lid open	One, up to 6K at 60Hz
USB-C ports	Two Thunderbolt 4	Two Thunderbolt 3 and USB 4
Wireless	Apple N1: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, Thread	Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3
Display	13.6-inch Liquid Retina, 2560 × 1664, 224 ppi, 500 nits	Same
Battery	53.8 Wh; up to 18 hours video streaming, 15 hours web	52.6 Wh; up to 18 hours Apple TV app movies, 15 hours web
Charger in the box	40W Dynamic Power Adapter, 60W Max	30W, or 35W Dual USB-C Compact
Weight	2.7 lb (1.23 kg)	2.7 lb (1.24 kg)
US price	$1,099; $999 education	$1,199 at launch; $1,099 education; $1,099 from June 2023

8GB is the reason to upgrade

The base M2 has 8GB of unified memory. Apple sold it in two memory configurations: 8GB, which could be ordered with 16GB or 24GB, and 16GB, which could be ordered with 24GB. The M5 starts at 16GB and goes to 24GB or 32GB, so even the cheapest one has twice the base M2’s memory, and 32GB is an option the M2 never had.

Memory is soldered on both, so an M2 has whatever it left the factory with. If yours is the 8GB model and it’s slowing you down, that alone is a reason to move. If it has 16GB or 24GB, the case for upgrading rests on the camera, the second monitor and Wi-Fi 7 instead.

The Airs in between got there in steps. The M3 added Wi-Fi 6E but still offered 8GB, and the M4 made 16GB standard. The M5 keeps 16GB and doubles the starting storage: 512GB, up to 4TB, against 256GB, up to 2TB, on the M2.

Two more cores and faster memory

The M2’s CPU has eight cores, four for performance and four for efficiency, with 100GB/s of memory bandwidth. The M5 has 10: four that Apple calls super cores and six efficiency cores, with 153GB/s, about half as much bandwidth again. Both GPUs come with 8 cores or, to order, 10, and both chips have a 16-core Neural Engine.

Only the M5 lists Neural Accelerators in the GPU, hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AV1 decoding, next to H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW. Apple puts no benchmark next to either chip, so the core count and the bandwidth are the numbers you have to go on.

A camera that keeps you in frame

The M2 has a 1080p FaceTime HD camera. The M5’s 12MP Center Stage camera keeps you centered as you move around, can show a top-down view of the table in front of you during a call, and records video in 1080p. If you’re on video calls every day, it’s the upgrade you’ll see most.

Audio is close. Both have four speakers with Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos. The M2 has three microphones with directional beamforming; Apple lists directional beamforming, Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum for the M5’s. The keyboard and Force Touch trackpad are the same.

A second monitor, Thunderbolt 4 and Wi-Fi 7

The M2 runs one external display, at up to 6K and 60Hz. The M5 runs two with the lid open: two at up to 6K and 60Hz or 4K and 144Hz, or one at up to 8K and 60Hz, 5K and 120Hz, or 4K and 240Hz. If you want two monitors side by side, the M2 can’t do it.

The ports look the same, MagSafe 3, a headphone jack and two USB-C ports, but the M2’s are Thunderbolt 3 and USB 4 ports at up to 40Gb/s, and the M5’s are Thunderbolt 4. Neither has HDMI or an SD card slot.

Wireless jumps past the Wi-Fi 6E that came in between. The M2 has Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) and Bluetooth 5.3. The M5’s Apple N1 chip adds Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be), Bluetooth 6 and Thread, though Wi-Fi 7 depends on your country. You’ll only see the benefit with a Wi-Fi 7 router; on a Wi-Fi 6 network, the M5 connects the same way your M2 does.

The screen, body and battery carried over

Apple didn’t touch the display: 13.6-inch Liquid Retina, 2560 by 1664 at 224 pixels per inch, 500 nits, 1 billion colors, wide P3 color and True Tone, with no touchscreen and no ProMotion on either. The body measures 0.44 by 11.97 by 8.46 inches and weighs 2.7 pounds on both (Apple lists 1.24 kg for the M2 and 1.23 kg for the M5), and neither has a fan.

The batteries are 52.6 watt-hours in the M2 and 53.8 in the M5, and Apple rates both for up to 15 hours of wireless web and 18 hours of video. It calls the video test Apple TV app movie playback on the M2 and video streaming on the M5, and it tested different machines: an 8-core M2 with 8GB and 256GB in May 2022, and a 10-core M5 with an 8-core GPU, 16GB and 512GB in January 2026, both at eight clicks of brightness from the bottom. On paper, a new M5 won’t last you any longer.

The charger did change. The M2 comes with a 30W adapter, or a 35W Dual USB-C Compact adapter with the 10-core GPU and 512GB, and fast-charges with a 70W adapter. The M5 comes with a 40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max and fast-charges with 70W or higher. Both charge over a USB-C to MagSafe 3 cable.

The M5 comes in sky blue, midnight, starlight and silver; the M2 in silver, starlight, space gray and midnight. Software has moved on too: the M5 launched with macOS Tahoe, while Apple’s M2 specs still refer to macOS Sequoia, so don’t assume a 2022 chip gets every feature a 2026 one does.

What they cost

The M2 launched at $1,199, or $1,099 with education pricing, and Apple cut it to $1,099 ($999 for education) in June 2023. The M5 starts at $1,099, or $999 for education. So both have sold for $1,099, and for that money the M5 starts with 16GB and 512GB where the M2 started with 8GB and 256GB.

If you’re weighing a used or refurbished M2 against a new M5, the configuration matters more than the chip. A 24GB M2 with a 1TB SSD can still be worth keeping or buying; an 8GB M2 with 256GB is the machine the M5 replaces. Prices move, so check Apple and any refurbished offer before you buy.