It hasn’t even been a year yet, and Apple is updating the hardware of the iPad Air. You probably won’t realise the difference, but for new buyers, it’ll be a big deal.
A new iPhone this month was sure something, but that’s not all Apple has in store, as a new iPad or two breaks ground, as well.
If you thought Apple was finished with its one new device, think again, as the M2 iPad Air released back in May of last year (which we reviewed in August) already finds itself getting replaced.
The new model looks much the same and comes in both an 11 and 13 inch variety, but now packs the M3 chip seen in the M3 MacBook Air, another computer we suspect will likely be replaced very shortly.
This year’s iPad Air — the iPad Air with M3 — is very much the image of last year’s, but with a faster 8-core M3 CPU and a 9-core GPU, making it perfectly suited to high-speed apps and games, complete with the Neural Engine that can use Apple Intelligence, too.
One thing outside the chip has definitely changed: there’s a new keyboard case. Sporting a slightly bigger trackpad and a new set of function keys, the Magic Keyboard for iPad Air is that little bit newer, but also still fairly expensive, priced at $449 for the 11 inch and $499 for the 13 inch, on top of a starting price for the $999 M3 iPad Air.
Interestingly, a slight bump for the iPad Air isn’t the only iPad announcement for this week: there’s also a new standard iPad, too.
Much like the Air, the design of the “iPad” hasn’t changed, but neither has much else. The chip has been boosted from the A13 to the A16 and the storage has been doubled, but you won’t find Apple Intelligence on the entry-level iPad due to the A16 not getting that support.
That makes the standard iPad one of the only iPad models that won’t see support for Apple Intelligence, given the iPad Mini supports the A17 Pro from the iPhone 15 Pro which does work with Apple’s approach to AI.
In terms of pricing and availability, the new standard iPad can be found from $599 with 128GB storage, while the M3 iPad Air from $999, with both ranges arriving from March 12 in Australia, and indeed much of the rest of the world.
