Apple has quietly unveiled its latest M3-powered iPad Air, opting for a press release instead of a flashy event – which tells you a lot about how the size of this update. But while the new iPad Air doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it does bring solid performance upgrades, particularly for those looking for faster processing and better graphics.
What’s new with iPad Air?
The biggest change here is the M3 chip, which makes the new iPad Air almost twice as fast as the M1 version and up to 3.5 times faster than older models with A-series chips.
Apple says you’ll feel the difference whether you’re editing video, playing high-end games, or running creative apps. That said, the previous M1 iPad Air already supports Apple Intelligence, so while the M3 will handle AI tasks better, it’s not necessarily a must-have upgrade if that’s your main concern.
Otherwise, this is largely the same iPad Air we’ve had for a while. It still comes in 11-inch and 13-inch sizes, still has Touch ID on the power button, still starts at 128GB storage, and color choices remain blue, purple, starlight, and space gray.
New Magic Keyboard
There’s also an update to Apple’s Magic Keyboard, which lowers the price while improving the design. It now has a larger trackpad and a 14-key function row, making it easier to adjust things like brightness and volume. It makes an attached iPad look more like a Mac than ever before.
Although it’s slightly cheaper than before, it’s still eye-waveringly expensive as far as keyboards go, with the 11-inch model at $269 and the 13-inch version at $319.
Refreshed entry model
Alongside the iPad Air refresh, Apple also updated its entry-level iPad from the 10th generation to the 11th, swapping in an A16 chip and doubling the base storage.
The performance jump is solid, but surprisingly this is the first new Apple device in the past year that doesn’t support Apple Intelligence. That’s likely a strategic move to keep costs low, but it does make it stand out when Apple is pushing AI so hard elsewhere, like in the recently-released iPhone 16e.
Price and Availability
The new iPad Air and updated iPad are available for pre-order today, with shipments and in-store availability starting Wednesday, March 12. The iPad Air keeps its previous $599 and $799 pricing for the 11-inch and 13-inch models, while the updated baseline iPad starts at $449.
If you were hoping for something groundbreaking, this isn’t it. But if you’ve been holding out for an upgrade, these iterative upgrades across the board make it a good time to do so.