Apple Newsroom, a day after Tim Cook posted his “There’s Something in the Air” tweet:
Apple today introduced the faster, more powerful iPad Air with the M3 chip and built for Apple Intelligence. iPad Air with M3 brings Apple’s advanced graphics architecture to iPad Air for the first time — taking its incredible combination of power-efficient performance and portability to a new level. iPad Air with M3 is nearly 2x faster compared to iPad Air with M1, and up to 3.5x faster than iPad Air with A14 Bionic.
The 11-inch iPad Air still starts at $599, the 13-inch still starting at $799, and the colors are still super muted:
As has been widely discussed, the M3 is a bit of a dead-end chip, leading some to assume Apple would skip it on the iPad Air and instead going right to the M4. Apple hasn’t done that, though. Maybe the company wanted to give the iPad Pro a little breathing room, but it’s not like the M3 is a slouch.
In addition to the iPad Air itself, Apple has also updated its keyboard:
The all-new Magic Keyboard for iPad Air expands what users can do at an even lower price. The larger built-in trackpad brings greater precision for detail-oriented tasks, and a new 14-key function row allows easy access to features like screen brightness and volume controls. The new Magic Keyboard attaches magnetically, and the Smart Connector immediately connects power and data without the need for Bluetooth; a machined aluminum hinge also includes a USB-C connector for charging. Now starting at just $269 for the 11-inch model and $319 for the 13-inch model, the new Magic Keyboard for iPad Air features the magical floating design customers love and comes in white.
That new Magic Keyboard is compatible with these models:
- iPad Air 13‑inch (M2 and M3)
- iPad Air 11‑inch (M2 and M3)
- iPad Air (4th and 5th generation)
Waaaaaay at the bottom of the press release, Apple announced the 11th generation iPad:
Apple today also updated iPad with double the starting storage and the A16 chip, bringing even more value to customers. The A16 chip provides a jump in performance for everyday tasks and experiences in iPadOS, while still providing all-day battery life. Compared to the previous generation, the updated iPad with A16 is nearly 30 percent faster. In fact, compared to iPad with A13 Bionic, users will see up to a 50 percent improvement in overall performance, and A16 makes the updated iPad up to 6x faster than the best-selling Android tablet.
This model supports the same Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard Folio as the 10th generation model.
Like the iPad mini (A17 Pro), Apple has put the SoC name into the name of the product, referring to it as the iPad (A16) on places like the Tech Specs page. Unlike the newest iPad mini, this iPad is not capable of supporting Apple Intelligence. If the use of the M3 in the iPad Air is a surprise, this is a bit of a shock, given how important Apple thinks these features are.
That said, this iPad starts at $349, and a huge percentage of these tablets end up in the hands of kids, both at home and at school, where Apple Intelligence isn’t going to see wide usage.