The Swift 16 Air is Acers new MacBook challenger

Acer isn’t being subtle about the fact that its latest ultraportable Swift laptop is a MacBook Air competitor.

The Taiwanese tech company unveiled the Swift Air 16 at IFA 2025 in Berlin on Wednesday, billing it as an “ultralight Copilot+ PC for modern mobile professionals.” (Yep, they put the A-word right in its name.) The 16-inch Windows laptop features AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series processors, an optional AMOLED 120Hz display, and an impressively feathery form factor for a laptop of its size.

U.S. shoppers won’t be able to get their hands on the Swift Air 16 right away. Acer is launching it in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa this November, starting at €999 (or about $1,165), but hasn’t confirmed its North American pricing or availability just yet.

The lighter configuration of the Acer Swift Air 16 is over half a pound lighter than the 13-inch M4 Apple MacBook Air.
Credit: Acer

Weighing as little as 2.18 pounds (depending on the configuration), the Swift Air 16 is as light as the Snapdragon X-powered Asus Zenbook A14, which has a smaller 14-inch display. The Zenbook A14 has been the lightest Copilot+ PC on the market since it debuted at CES 2025 in January. (The 12-inch Microsoft Surface Pro 11 released in May is even lighter at 1.5 pounds, but only on a technicality: It doesn’t come with a built-in keyboard.)

For comparison’s sake, the 13-inch M4 Apple MacBook Air weighs 2.7 pounds, while the 15-inch model weighs 3.3 pounds.

The Acer Swift 16 AI may be much lighter than Apple’s MacBook Air, but it’s not quite as thin.
Credit: Acer

Asus flirted with the MacBook Air comparisons by choosing the “A14” moniker, which sort of looks like the word “AIR,” but Acer is going full send with the Swift Air 16.

That said, Apple probably isn’t sweating too hard. While the Zenbook A14 was able to match MacBooks’ all-day stamina, lasting nearly 22 hours in our battery life benchmark, the Swift Air 16 is only rated for up to 13 hours of video playback per charge.

The Acer Swift Air 16 comes in four finishes (left to right): Steel gray, fresh blue, light silver, and white.
Credit: Acer

Here’s what the rest of its spec sheet looks like:

• AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 to 7 350 processor

• Integrated AMD Radeon 820M to 860M graphics

• 60Hz IPS or 120Hz AMOLED display options

• Up to 32GB of RAM

• Up to 1TB of SSD storage

• 2MP webcam with privacy shutter

• Two USB-C ports, one USB-A port, an HDMI port, and a headphone jack

• WiFi 6E

• A magnesium-aluminum alloy chassis in four color options (light silver, fresh blue, steel gray, and white)

The Swift Air 16 weighs 2.18 pounds and measures 0.63 inches thin with its IPS display. Bumping that up to AMOLED makes it a quarter of a pound heavier and two-tenths of an inch thicker.