- Excellent performance
- Good value
- New Magic Keyboard is great
- Very minor year-on-year upgrade
- Display only has a 60Hz refresh rate
- Doesn't work with older Apple Pencils
If you’re not already in the market for a new iPad, the iPad Air M3 isn’t going to change your mind. For many people, it will be the right iPad to buy, but it's such an iterative new model that it's not going to inspire you to upgrade ahead of schedule.
The only change between this year's iPad Air and last year's is the processor. You get the M3 chip instead of the M2. Faster is good, but Apple is already lapping the competition here.
Samsung's latest iPad Air equivalent tablets have the same chipset as the Galaxy A56 - one of its new mid-tier phones. The new iPad Air is powered by the same kind of processor Apple uses in its laptops. It's a day and night difference. On paper, even last year's iPad Air was as much as three times faster than the chip found in Samsung's Galaxy Tab S10 FE.
The iPad with M3 widens the gap, but there might not be too many use cases where you actually notice the difference. Unless you're playing demanding games or using pro-grade apps…
At the same time, how powerful the new iPad Air is great for longevity. The pure speed of the M3 chip should ensure the iPad Air handles everything you want to throw at it four or five years down the line.
Upgrading from an M2 iPad Air to an M3 iPad Air would be pretty silly for most, but even when you compare it to the M1 model or the last A-series iPad Air, there isn't a lot that's new.
128GB is now the storage baseline, with 64GB units getting axed last year. The physical SIM slot was also cut last year, meaning an eSIM is the only way to get mobile connectivity for the iPad Air if you're considering a 5G model.
There's also support for the new Apple Pencil Pro, which is excellent. The most significant upgrade is being able to squeeze the Pencil to trigger a shortcut, which is something I've found quite useful. The functionality varies from app to app, but its nice to have another way to interact with the iPad.
The bad news is the second-generation Apple Pencil doesn't work with the M3 iPad Air, so if you've got one, you'll also need to upgrade you're stylus if you're upgrading your tablet. It's a weird choice that's a bit frustrating.
Apple also introduced a new keyboard alongside the iPad Air, featuring a larger trackpad and a row of function keys. It's not as nice as the latest iPad Pro keyboard - it doesn't have the MacBook-esque aluminium finish - but you still get the practical benefits. It will cost you either $449 or $499, depending on what size iPad Air you buy, however.
If you already have an older iPad Air keyboard, it will still work with the new iPad Air. It's not like the Apple Pencil, where you'll need to upgrade to the latest model.
While you could argue Apple's approach to the iPad Air is "don't fix what isn't broken", there are key opportunities for improvement. To start, I'd love a higher refresh rate display. If you've used a high refresh rate display on another device, the iPad Air's 60Hz screen is downright janky. Even if Apple wanted to reserve its fanciest 120Hz tech for the iPad Pro, surely it could at least upgrade the iPad Air display to 90Hz.
Similarly, it's silly that the iPad Air is still using a fingerprint sensor instead of Face ID. Given the myriad of different ways you can hold an iPad, housing the fingerprint reader in the power button isn't always practical. Face ID is a much neater solution.
Water resistance would also be a nice addition. While it seems unlikely Apple would give an IP rating to the iPad Air before the iPad Pro, Samsung has done this for its flagship and iPad Air equivalent tablets over the last two years. Water resistance is less of a concern on a tablet than on a phone, but having a bit of extra peace of mind is never bad. Especially if you like to use your iPad in the bath.
Apple iPad Air (M3) - Final Thoughts
The new iPad Air isn't a radical update, and in some ways, it didn't need to be one. The iPad Air with M3 continues to be the sensible iPad, the Goldilocks model. It's much more capable than the entry-level iPad, but doesn't cost silly money like the iPad Pro (which also frees it from some of the "what is an iPad" baggage). While the new iPad Air isn't especially exciting, it's functional and will still be more than enough tablet for most.
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Alex Choros
