Alongside an announcement of spec bumps for the entry level iPad, Apple’s mid-level iPad Air now boasts the power of M3 silicon.
Apple today announced the 7th-generation iPad Air, bringing enhanced support for Apple Intelligence features and introducing Apple’s advanced graphics architecture to this tablet for the first time.
The new iPad Air replaces the M2 chip in the previous generation with the faster M3 chip. But it’s those upgrading from older generations that will see more meaningful speed bumps by upgrading to this new M3 iPad Air. Apple says iPad Air with M3 is nearly 2x faster than the M1 iPad Air and up to 3.5x faster than iPad Air with A14 Bionic.
The M3 chip in iPad Air features a more-powerful 8-core CPU and a 9-core GPU. As a result, iPad Air boasts graphics that are 40% faster than the M1 iPad Air. Plus, this is the first iPad Air to feature Apple’s advanced graphics architecture with support for dynamic caching and hardware accelerated mesh shading and ray tracing.
This of course improves the performance and graphics capabilities for gaming and Apple says that it also offers up to 4x faster performance in graphics-intensive rendering workflows than the M1 iPad Air, “enabling more accurate lighting, reflections, shadows, and extremely realistic gaming experiences.”
Apple also points out that the Neural Engine in M3 is 60% faster than the M1 for AI-based workloads.
Updated (and Cheaper!) Magic Keyboard for iPad Air
Apple has made some very welcome changes to its Magic Keyboard for iPad Air.
First up, Apple has increased the size of the trackpad and added a 14-key function row for easy access to features like screen brightness and volume controls. These are huge improvements in and of themselves because the previous generation Magic Keyboard for iPad Air always felt really hard to recommend when considering the price and the lack of these features when comparing it to what was offered on the Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro.
But that’s not all! Apple has also decreased the price on this new Magic Keyboard. The Magic Keyboard for iPad Air now starts at just $269 for the 11-inch model while the 13-inch model starts at $319. But we hope you like white…because that’s the only color Apple is selling the Magic Keyboard for iPad Air in.
Pricing and Availability
iPad Air starts at $599 for the 11-inch model and $799 for the 13-inch model. You can pre-order the new iPad Air with M3 and Magic Keyboard for iPad Air starting today, with full availability beginning March 12.
