Apple announces new iPad Air with M3 chip

Apple today announced the new iPad Air with M3 silicon, featuring a performance boost nearly twice as fast as the M1 iPad Air. The device comes in the existing screen sizes, 11 and 13 inches, with a design that is identical to its predecessor. There’s also an updated Magic Keyboard alongside the new iPad Air.

Packed with an 8-core CPU, 9-core GPU, and 16-core Neural Engine, the M3 chip on the iPad Air brings Apple’s advanced graphics architecture to the Air lineup with support for dynamic caching, and hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray tracing. Apple says the M3 iPad Air offers up to 4x faster performance for graphics-intensive rendering workflows when compared to the iPad Air with M1.

iPad Air with M3 empowers users to be productive and creative wherever they are, from aspiring creatives using demanding apps and working with large files, to travelers editing content on the go. The powerful M3 chip offers a number of improvements over M1 and previous-generation models. Featuring a more powerful 8-core CPU, M3 is up to 35 percent faster for multithreaded CPU workflows than iPad Air with M1. M3 features a 9-core GPU with up to 40 percent faster graphics performance over M1.

Apple also announced an updated Magic Keyboard for the iPad Air. The keyboard comes with a larger trackpad and a new 14-key function row that allows easy access to features like brightness and volume controls. While the keyboard is not identical to the iPad Pro’s Magic Keyboard, it does have a machined aluminum hinge that includes a USB-C connector for charging. Pricing for the new Magic Keyboard for iPad Air starts at $269 for the 11-inch model and $319 for the 13-inch model.

Pricing remains unchanged for the new iPad Air. For the 128GB base variant, the 11-inch iPad Air with M3 starts at $599, and the 13-inch model starts at $799. Preorders are open now with availability starting Wednesday, March 5.