Apple has announced a brand-new iPad Air with the M3 chip. Not only that, it gets a new Magic Keyboard as well.
iPad Air Gets the M3 Chip, Offering up to 60% Faster Performance Compared to M1 Model
Well, Tim Cook did tease an ‘Air’ related announcement for this week. Instead of the M4 MacBook Air, Apple has announced the M3 iPad Air today.
Right off the bat, the new M3 chip gives the iPad Air a boost in performance while keeping the design the same as the M2 model.
The chip features an 8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores, and a 9-core GPU. We also get a 16-core Neural Engine with 8GB of RAM.
No matter which model you get, the chip configuration remains the same.
Apple says the new iPad Air with M3 is twice as fast compared to the M1 model and up to 3.5x faster compared to the iPad Air with A14 Bionic.
The company says the M3 iPad Air is up to 35% faster for multithreaded CPU workflows compared to the M1 model. Meanwhile, it’s up to 40% faster in graphics.
The Neural Engine is up to 60% faster compared to M1, making this iPad great for artificial intelligence-related tasks.
What you should know is that this iPad is extremely fast and will handle day-to-day tasks way better than a lot of laptops out there.
Everything else in the iPad Air remains the same, which means it is available in the same 11-inch and 13-inch versions as well as the same color options.
New Magic Keyboard
Apple has released a new Magic Keyboard, which is designed just for the iPad Air.
It starts at just $269 for the 11-inch model and $319 for the 13-inch model. It features a 14-key function row, a USB-C connector for pass-through charging, and the same beautiful floating display design.
Interestingly, this Magic Keyboard is fully compatible with the M2 and M1 models, including the 4th-generation model.
The keyboard will be available for purchase on 12th of March. You will find more details by going to this link.
Price and Availability
The new iPad Air with M3 starts at $599, as before. It’s available in Blue, Purple, Starlight, and Space Gray finishes, and you can buy it in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage configurations.
To give you a better breakdown of price, the 11-inch model with Wi-Fi costs $599, while the 5G model costs $749. The 13-inch model with Wi-Fi starts at $799, while the 5G model will cost you $949.
The new iPad Air is available for pre-order today, and it will become available in stores starting March 12.
