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The iPad Air M3 is finally here, and we've already rated it as one of the best iPads and best tablets you can buy.
Apple announced its new iPad Air powered by the M3 chip, and it offers better performance, a fantastic vivid display and more responsiveness when using Apple Intelligence features.
iPad Air M3 specifications
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | iPad Air M3 11‑inch | iPad Air M3 13‑inch |
Starting price | $599 | $799 |
Display | 11-inch Liquid Retina display (2360 x 1640) | 13-inch Liquid Retina display (2372 x 2048) |
Rear camera | 12MP main (ƒ/1.8) | 12MP main (ƒ/1.8) |
Front camera | 12MP (f/2.0) | 12MP (f/2.0) |
Chipset | Apple M3 chip | Apple M3 chip |
Storage | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB |
Battery | 28.93 Wh | 36.59 Wh |
Size | 9.74 x 7.02 x 0.24 inches | 11.04 x 8.46 x 0.24 inches |
Weight | 16.22 ounces | 21.72 ounces |
Colors | Blue, Purple, Starlight, Space Gray | Blue, Purple, Starlight, Space Gray |
iPad Air M3 release date and price
The 11-inch iPad Air M3 starts at $599 and the 13-inch model starts at $799. You can pre-order the iPad Air M3 today, with a release date on March 12.
New iPad Air: M3 chip
Apple says the new iPad Air's M3 chip offers a serious speed upgrade. For example, the iPad Air M3 is nearly 2x faster than the iPad Air M1 and up to 3.5x faster than the older iPad Air with A14 Bionic.
From our tests, this appears to be the case:
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | iPad Air M3 | iPad Air M2 | Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 |
Geekbench (single core / dual core) | 3,042 / 11,804 | 2,600 / 10,066 | 2,116 / 5,164 |
3DMark WildLife | 5806 / 34.8 fps | 5,829 / 34.9 fps | 3,897 / 23.34 fps |
Adobe Premiere Rush | 18 seconds | 21 seconds | 40 seconds |
You get a more powerful 8-core CPU, which makes the M3 up to 35% faster for multithreaded CPU workflows than iPad Air M1. There's also a 9-core GPU on board with 40% faster graphics performance than M1.
Gamers will appreciate that the M3 also brings advanced graphics technology to the table, including dynamic caching, as well as hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray tracing.
New Magic Keyboard for iPad Air M3
The other notable hardware upgrade for the iPad Air M3 is the new Magic Keyboard. It now offers a larger trackpad (so it feels more MacBook-like). Plus, there's a dedicated 14-key function row for accessing features like volume and screen brightness.
The Magic Keyboard attaches magnetically to the iPad Air M3.
It starts at $269 for the 11-inch version and $319 for the 13-inch model.
iPad Air M3 Apple Intelligence features
As you might expect, the iPad Air features a ton of Apple Intelligence features built in. This includes handy tools like Clean Up in Photos and Image Wand in the Notes app (which works great with Apple Pencil).
You can also create images on the fly using Image Playground and create your own emoji with Genmoji.
The new Siri is on board, too. So you get a more conversational assistant, as well as the ability to ask all sorts of product knowledge questions.
Plus, ChatGPT is integrated into Writing Tools and Siri, so you can go beyond what Apple offers on its own.
Outlook
These new iPad Air M3 models are turbocharged for productivity with the addition of the M3 chip and Apple Intelligence. This pairing will allow people to create and do even more on the iPad, and when paired with the new Magic Keyboard, could finally bridge that gap between laptop and tablet functionality.
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