The New “iPad Air” Gets the M3 Chip, Comes at $599
It's the iPad, not the MacBook.
After Tim Cook teased that Apple would be releasing an “Air” product this week, most speculated that it would most certainly be the “M4 MacBook Air.” But, Apple surprised us with an upgraded iPad Air, starting at $599.
M3 iPad Air Comes With a Chip Upgrade, Lighter Chassis, and the Same Color Options
The 2025 iPad Air gets the M3 chip upgrade, up from M2 on the iPad Air 11. It’s merely a spec bump, but according to Apple, this chip is twice as fast as the 2022 iPad Air with M1. It’s interesting to note that the Air didn’t come with Apple’s latest M4 chip, but instead stuck to last year’s SoC, which isn’t too bad considering it does support Apple Intelligence.
The M3 iPad Air comes in four color options: blue, purple, starlight, and space gray. It comes in 11-inch and 13-inch configurations, starts at 128GB and maxes out at 1TB. The 13-inch model starts at $599, while the larger spec costs $799.
As for the weight, the new M3 Air is only 2 grams lighter than it’s predecessor, the M2 Air. Still, there’s nothing oddly different about the new model. It has the same 12MP selfie camera, and the 12MP rear camera. TouchID, for both, is integrated into the top button, both support Apple Intelligence.
In addition to the iPad upgrades, Apple also announced the new Magic Keyboard with the M3 iPad Air. It comes in at $269 for the 13-inch variant, and $319 for the 13-inch iPad. Apple has increased the trackpad size and also added a 14-key function row, that allows you to adjust the volume and brightness. The function row was previously limited to the iPad Pros.
This year’s Air isn’t an upgrade last-gen users would need to consider, as the upgrades are minimal. That said, if you’re coming from an older iPad, presumably M1 or older, the M3 iPad Air might be a decent option.
The $349 Base iPad Gets the A16 Bionic
Apple has also upgraded the vanilla iPad to A16 Bionic, up from A14 Bionic. The base storage option is bumped to 128GB, with the highest storage cap maxing out at 512GB. But, one huge downside is that it doesn’t support Apple Intelligence. It starts at $349, which is the same price as before, and so, can be a decent entry-point into the iPad ecosystem.
This is all we know for now, but rest assured that we will keep you updated as new information becomes available.
Source: Apple
