iPad Air M3: A Tablet in Search of Itself

The new iPad Air with the M3 chip has arrived, and while it’s a perfectly capable tablet, it doesn’t quite ignite the imagination. It’s a solid mid-range offering from Apple, sporting a decent range of colors, a lightweight design, and ample power for typical tablet tasks. Yet, after spending considerable time with it, the iPad Air M3 feels less like a well-defined member of the iPad family and more like an outlier, struggling to establish its own unique identity.

The iPad Air 11-inch with the M3 is competent enough for a variety of uses, but it falls short of being a genuine MacBook replacement with a touchscreen. It represents an improvement over the previous year’s model, but this incremental upgrade may not be sufficient to entice existing M1 iPad Air owners to make the leap. For simpler tasks, I actually find myself gravitating towards the smaller iPad mini. And when serious processing power is needed, the iPad Pro remains the obvious choice.

Like the previous generation, this year also features a 13-inch version of the Air. However, while the larger screen size feels justified on the iPad Pro, it feels somewhat less essential on the Air, where the smaller display feels like a more natural fit.

The iPad Air 11-inch with M3 starts at $600. This base model comes with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. The M3 chip in this version features a 9-core GPU, which is the same configuration found in last year’s entry-level MacBook Air models. Apple has made a few welcome refinements to its tablet design, notably relocating the 12 MP Center Stage camera to the landscape edge, a move that makes video calls feel far more natural. The device also supports both the Apple Pencil Pro and the Apple Pencil USB-C, providing options for different user preferences, although it’s worth noting that older-generation styluses are not compatible. The display remains an IPS LCD Liquid Retina display, which performs adequately in dim environments or under indirect lighting with minimal glare.

I’m currently composing this portion of the review on the iPad Air using the new, enhanced Magic Keyboard, which, despite its improvements, remains rather expensive. The inclusion of a function row is a welcome addition, offering convenient control over brightness and other settings. However, the 11-inch version of the Magic Keyboard costs an extra $270, while the 13-inch version commands a hefty $320. This price point far exceeds many third-party keyboard alternatives, although it’s fair to say that the Magic Keyboard is one of the best keyboard experiences available for the iPad. This also means that the larger iPad Air, when coupled with the Magic Keyboard, exceeds $800, more than the new base MacBook Air M4.

If you’re already accustomed to the MacBook’s keyboard, the new Magic Keyboard for the Air offers a surprisingly comfortable and intuitive typing experience. However, it’s crucial to remember that even with the advancements in iPadOS, the tablet simply cannot match the versatility of Apple’s laptop ecosystem. This leaves me with a somewhat unfulfilled sensation, looking at a device that wouldn’t be my first choice compared to either its smaller or larger tablet siblings. If the iPad Air M3 falls within your budget, it’s undoubtedly a competent option. However, if you’re seeking a tablet that truly sparks excitement, this model might not be the one to capture your imagination.

There’s a significant leap in performance when moving from an iPad powered by Apple’s A-series chips (like the A16 and A17) to one equipped with the M-series silicon. This difference becomes apparent in demanding applications. The M3 offers more power than the preceding iPad Air with the M1 chip. However, when pitted against the 2024 M2, the M3 presents only a marginal improvement.

Apple seems more eager to compare older iPad models to the newer ones, highlighting the advancements made over several generations. While the 2022 iPad Air and the 2025 model may appear strikingly similar on the surface, there’s a notable increase in processing and graphics speeds. In tests like 3D Mark Wild Life Unlimited and Wild Life Extreme Unlimited, the M3 achieves an average 30% performance boost compared to the tablet from three years ago. When compared to the iPad Air M2 from 2024, the CPU exhibits a modest increase in Geekbench 6 tests, rising from 9,993 to 11,835 in multi-core scores, representing an approximate 15% gain.

With the arrival of the 7th-generation iPad Air, the M3 chip also introduces support for hardware-accelerated ray tracing. While this might be relevant in games like War Thunder: Mobile, the practical applications of ray tracing in typical tablet usage scenarios are limited.

When it comes to graphics-intensive tasks, the M3 iPad Air cannot compete with the performance of the iPad Pro featuring the M4 chip. This is to be expected, considering that the Pro carries a $400 price premium at the same size. An M4 iPad Pro 13 can achieve around 600 more points in the Geekbench 6 single-core test and surpasses the Air by approximately 2,700 points in multi-core performance. The disparity becomes even more pronounced when evaluating GPU capabilities. In 3D Mark Steel Nomad Lite benchmarks, the M4 outperforms the M3 iPad Air by over 1,150 points. Interestingly, the iPad Air is actually slightly thicker and heavier than the latest iPad Pro, measuring .24 inches and weighing 1.01 pounds compared to the iPad Pro’s .21 inches and .98 pounds.

For rendering workloads, the M3 iPad Air is significantly slower than the Pro. In my tests using the Screws scene in Octane X, the 11-inch Air was approximately 16 seconds slower on average. When evaluating AI performance using Geekbench AI, the neural engine in the iPad Pro surpasses the iPad Air by around 640 points in the quantized score. The true question is whether you’ll utilize the AI capabilities on the M3 iPad Air.

The iPad Air was tested on iPadOS 18.3. The anticipation was that iPadOS 18.4 or 18.5 would introduce even more AI features. On Friday, Apple acknowledged that it was delaying some of the most eagerly awaited features of Apple Intelligence, including a revamped Siri with enhanced conversational abilities and cross-app functionality. The timeline for the arrival of these features remains uncertain, with reports suggesting a potential delay until 2026.

Existing features include Siri having access to ChatGPT for more complex inquiries, but these summaries often feel incomplete and lack detail. Writing Tools allows you to proofread or summarize text, which can be handy. The ability to convert bullet points into a table proved useful for organizing the benchmark data for this review. It can also condense lengthy PR emails, although the AI’s summarization tends to omit important information. The AI writing capabilities seem targeted towards streamlining the workflow of managers who seek to shorten detailed reports and communications from their staff.

Image Playground, an AI image generator limited to preset themes and styles, is available. I added a picture of myself to the generator, and the results were less than flattering. It aged me, gave me a gaunt appearance, and showed a strange fascination with placing objects on my head. When it’s not hilariously flawed, the AI generator is remarkably uninteresting.

Apple Intelligence is compatible with all M-series iPads. Apple Intelligence—or any AI feature that’s not running on the cloud—doesn’t provide any tangible upgrade compared to past-gen iPads that don’t support it.

I’ve found the iPad mini and an Apple Pencil Pro to be the ideal combination for many tasks. The iPad mini provides the perfect size and functionality. For everything else, I generally turn to my MacBook.

For artistic endeavors or demanding rendering tasks, the iPad Pro remains the best option. If you prioritize a thin and lightweight design, the Pro is also your best bet. The iPad Air offers a slightly superior screen and enhanced performance for streaming content or basic productivity when compared to the base iPad, which now utilizes an A16 CPU. The nearly 11-inch base iPad, priced at $350, is also the only model without Apple Intelligence.

Perhaps Apple should have considered branding the 2024 iPad launch as the "iPad Air Pro" or "iPad Pro Air." It’s undeniably more intriguing than the iPad Air M3. The iPad Air is indeed slightly more powerful than the standard iPad. However, if you can find an iPad Air M2 at a lower price, you’ll essentially have the same user experience as the M3.