iPad Air gets a new M3 processor and expanded Magic Keyboard
Apple also upgrades the regular iPad with A16
📱 Apple upgrades the iPad Air with M3 processors
⌨️ iPad Air M3 also get a new Magic Keyboard with function keys and larger trackpad
📦 iPad Air M3 available now in 11-inch ($599) and 13-inch ($799) models
➕ Apple also upgrade the regular iPad with an A16 processor
🫰 iPad A16 features larger 128GB and the same $349 price as last gen
Apple has kicked off its week of ‘in the air’ announcements with a new iPad Air M3 and an A16-powered iPad.
The new iPad Air M3 comes less than a year after the iPad Air was upgraded with M2 processors. The biggest feature Apple is pushing with the “new” M3 processor is Apple Intelligence support, and it claims it's twice as fast as the M1-powered Air and the A14 Bionic-powered Air.
Once again, Apple’s tablet has only seen a slight spec bump, and it is otherwise practically identical to last year’s model. The tablet sticks to the same 11- and 13-inch LCD screens with the same resolutions (2,360 x 1,640 for 11-inch and 2,732 x 2,048 screen for 13-inch), and a 60Hz refresh rate. The iPad Air continues to also use a TouchID power button in place of FaceID that’s available on the iPad Pro OLED M4.
Thankfully, Apple has given more upgrades to the iPad Air M3’s Magic Keyboard ($269 for the 11-inch and $319 for the 13-inch) with the extra row of function keys and larger trackpad seen on the iPad Pro’s Magic Keyboard.
The iPad Air M3 is available for $599 for the 11-inch tablet and $799 for the 13-inch model. Both base models feature 128GB and are available in four colors (Space Gray, Blue, Purple, and Starlight).
If you were waiting for a more substantial upgrade from the iPad Pro M1 (like me), this is likely the best you’ll get until 2027. iPad Air M2 buyers, however, likely can skip the year-over-year upgrade unless they’re hungry for more Apple Intelligence.
iPad gets a much-needed upgrade
The regular iPad also got a similar spec upgrade, but the jump to A16 comes after a little over two years since the iPad 10th Gen with A14 was introduced in October 2022.
The 10th Gen iPad’s processor comes from the iPhone 14 Pro, and it features a 5-core CPU and 4-core GPU. Apple also upgraded the base iPad’s storage to 128GB without any increase to the $349 starting price.
Apple is likely to announce an MacBook Air M4 model later this week — just don’t expect the iPhone 17 Air – so stay tuned for the latest news.
Kevin Lee is The Shortcut’s Creative Director. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam.
