Apple announces its new iPad Air M3, still as thin and light, but much more powerful and designed for AI. A redesigned Magic Keyboard accompanies it to transform the tablet into a real laptop. The basic iPad is also getting a makeover with a more powerful chip and more storage.
We were expecting new MacBook Airs this week (maybe an announcement tomorrow?), Apple has chosen to make its new tablets official first. The iPad Air is now equipped with an M3 chip, still in 11 and 13-inch formats. So we shouldn't expect the same performance as the iPad Pro M4, but the American firm still announces that the iPad Air M3 is "nearly 2x faster than the iPad Air with M1 chip and up to 3.5x faster than the iPad Air with A14 Bionic chip".
Embedding a more powerful 8-core CPU, the M3 chip is up to 35% faster than the iPad Air with M1 chip for multi-threaded CPU workflows, Apple promises. The 9-core GPU of the M3 chip would also provide graphics performance up to 40% faster than that of the M1 chip.
The M3 chip boosts the CPU, GPU and AI performance of the iPad Air
For the first time, the iPad Air supports dynamic caching, mesh shading and hardware-accelerated ray tracing. “For graphically demanding rendering workflows, the iPad Air with M3 chip delivers up to 4x faster performance than the iPad Air with M1 chip. Light, reflections and shadows are thus more precise, and gaming experiences become extremely realistic,” the Apple brand communicates.
It is in keeping with the times, the iPad Air M3 is of course tailored for Apple Intelligence, the AI features developed by the manufacturer for its ecosystem of devices. The Neural Engine of the M3 is precisely up to 60% faster for AI tasks than that of the M1. Beyond the raw power, AI can bring a few handy options here and there to the tablet's most popular apps.
In the Photos app, for example, a Correction tool makes it easy to remove unwanted elements from images, such as people in front of a monument. In addition, natural language search “helps users find any photo or video by simply describing what they’re looking for”.
The Notes app is getting a Graphic Wand. With the Apple Pencil, you can draw sketches on the fly, which will be transformed into beautiful images by generative AI. By circling an empty space in a note, the Graphic Wand will use the surrounding context to generate a relevant image that completes the note and makes it more visual, Apple explains.
A new Magic Keyboard for a desktop experience
As on the latest iPhones, Image Playground lets you create original visuals and Genmoji lets you generate emojis according to your tastes. Different writing tools are also available to streamline communication and save time. Siri has developed its conversational capabilities, understands better what is said to it, and responds in a more relevant way. The assistant also retains context from one request to another, both in writing and by voice. Siri has in-depth product knowledge, so you can ask her questions about the features and settings of your iPad, but also your iPhone, MacBook or other.
ChatGPT is natively integrated into the experience and can be invoked within the iPad applications themselves, without the need to create an OpenAI account. But the iPad Air M3 also benefits from several models that run entirely locally on the device, to guarantee better confidentiality. User data is therefore never stored or communicated to Apple.
To make your tablet as convenient to use as a laptop, Apple is launching a new Magic Keyboard to accompany the iPad Air M3. It features an enlarged trackpad for greater comfort and precision, as well as a new row of 14 function keys offering quick access to controls, such as screen brightness and volume. It attaches to the tablet via a magnetic connection, and the Smart Connector immediately activates power and data transfer without using Bluetooth.
The basic iPad doubles its storage
Apple also announces an update to its basic iPad. There is no change in design, so we find the fairly thick borders around the screen, still with this 11-inch display diagonal. The battery life would be roughly similar, the manufacturer mentioning a day of use. The storage is however more generous, going from 64 to 128 GB on the least equipped configuration. A new 512 GB option is also added.
Above all, this new iPad is powered by an A16 chip, the same SoC that powers the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max as well as the iPhone 15, a nice evolution. The iPad A16 is nearly 30% faster than the previous generation iPad, Apple claims, and benefits from a performance improvement of up to 50% compared to the iPad with the A13 Bionic SoC.
“The iPad becomes up to 6x faster than the most popular Android tablet sold”, boasts Apple, which does not cite the comparison model, specifying only that it runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 695, a mid-range SoC. The Android tablet in question is undoubtedly much less expensive than the iPad.
Price and availability
It’s also time to talk about prices. The iPad Air with M3 chip is available in blue, purple, starlight and space gray colors, in 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB and 1 TB configurations, and with Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi + Cellular versions. It is sold from 719 euros in its 11-inch model and from 969 euros in 13 inches.
The new Magic Keyboard is available in white, at the price of 329 euros for the 11-inch version and 349 euros in 13 inches.
Finally, the iPad with A16 chip is available in blue, pink, yellow and silver, with 128, 256 or 512 GB of storage, in Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi + Cellular. Its price starts at 409 euros.
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