Updated Tablet Delivery from Apple: iPad Air Sporting M3 Processor Undergoes Evaluation
Rewritten Article:
Let's talk about the latest iPad Air refresh, shall we? In essence, it's not exactly mind-blowing. With an enhanced M3 processor, it remains a mid-range offering from Apple. Sure, it's available in a plethora of vibrant hues, and it's relatively light. It packs enough power to handle typical tablet duties.
Yet, even when I put it through its paces with my regular tasks, the latest iPad Air still seems like the black sheep of Apple's tablet family - the awkward misfit struggling to find its place.
iPad Air 2025 featuring M3
It's an update for Apple's solid mid-range tablet, but it lags behind its other iPads in terms of versatility, power, or price.
Pros
- Bright and shiny display
- Improved Magic Keyboard over previous gen
- Better performance compared to M1 iPad Air
Cons
- Limited performance upgrade from 2024 iPad Air
- Not as thin and light as iPad Pro, despite the name
- The cost of the Magic Keyboard edges perilously close to a full MacBook
Despite its improvements, the iPad Air 11 with M3 might not be your cheaper MacBook alternative with a touchscreen. Last year's model is still a viable option, especially for lingering M1 iPad Air users. I'd rather choose the latest iPad mini for my simpler tasks. For anything that requires extra processing power, the iPad Pro is the obvious choice. As before, a 13-inch version of the Air is available, but I find it more suitable on a smaller display.
iPad Air (M3) at Amazon
The 11-inch iPad Air with M3 starts at $600 and comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage as standard. This version of the M3 includes a 9-core GPU, comparable to the lower-end MacBook Air models from last year. If you missed the news last year, Apple made some enhancements to its tablets, like relocating the 12MP Center Stage camera to the landscape edge. It supports both Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Pencil USB-C (although none of the previous-gen stylus). Otherwise, it features an IPS LCD Liquid Retina display that's passable for dark rooms or indirect light with minimal glare.
I've written this part of the review on the iPad Air with the newly improved, yet overpriced Magic Keyboard. It boasts a function row, which is useful for adjusting brightness on the fly, but at the 11-inch size, it'll cost you an extra $270 for the 13-inch version, that's $320. Compared to other third-party keyboard options, it's one of the best, but it's expensive. This means the larger iPad Air costs $800 combined with the Magic Keyboard, which is more than the new base MacBook Air M4.
If you're already accustomed to MacBook's keyboard, the new Air version offers a surprisingly comfortable typing experience. However, even with iPadOS, the tablet can't match the versatility of Apple's laptop suite, leaving me feeling underwhelmed. It's a decent choice if budget is a concern, but if you're seeking a tablet that excites the imagination, you won't find it here.
M3 iPad Air's Performance: A Slight Jump from Last Year
There's a significant leap in performance between an iPad powered by Apple's M-series chips versus one with an A16 or A17 chip, which is noticeable in more demanding apps. The M3 outperforms the previous-gen iPad Air with M1, but a comparison against the 2024 M2 reveals minimal improvement in the M3.
When Apple unveiled last year's tablets, they made comparisons to older models. The iPad Air from 2022 may share a striking resemblance with the 2025 model, but the speed difference for both computing and graphics tasks is significant. Tests like 3D Mark Wild Life Unlimited and Wild Life Extreme Unlimited show the M3 gets an average 30% boost over the tablet from three years ago. In 2025, compared to the iPad Air M2 from 2024, the CPU witnessed a modest increase from 9,993 to 11,835 multi-core scores in Geekbench 6 tests, which translates to approximately a 15% uptick.
This isn't surprising, as the 7th-gen iPad Air also supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing, which could matter in a game like War Thunder: Mobile, but its relevance for everyday tablet use is questionable.
For the sake of graphics-intensive tasks, the M3 iPad Air is no match for the iPad Pro's M4 performance. You'd expect this, considering the Pro costs $400 at the same size. A M4 iPad Pro 13 can deliver 600 more points in Geekbench 6 single-core and achieves 2,700 points more in multi-core. The GPU's capabilities show a starker difference - 3D Mark Steel Nomad Lite benchmarks reveal the M4 can score 1,150 more points than the M3 iPad Air. Let's face it, the iPad Air is actually thicker and heavier than the latest iPad Pro.
iPad Air (M3) at Amazon
Rendering tasks on the Pro versus the Air reveal the M3 is significantly slower. In my tests with the Screws scene in Octane X, the 11-inch Air was about 16 seconds slower on average. For AI performance, Geekbench AI shows the neural engine on the iPad Pro outperforms the iPad Air by around 640 points in quantized score. As for whether you'll want to use or abuse AI on the M3 iPad Air, it seems either way, it may not matter for long.
AI on iPad Air M3: Not a Reason to Upgrade
We tested the iPad Air on iPadOS 18.3. The hope was that upcoming versions, such as 18.4 or 18.5, would bring even more AI capabilities. However, the iPad Air release is plagued by awkward timing. On Friday, Apple confirmed the delay of some of the much-anticipated features of Apple Intelligence, including an upgraded Siri with enhanced conversational capabilities and the ability to work across apps. Apple hasn't clarified the extent or duration of these delays, but reports suggest we may be waiting until 2026. Perhaps by then, we'll have an iPad Air M4.
Let's consider what's currently available: Siri still draws on ChatGPT for more complex queries, but these responses are often brief and lacking in detail. Features like Writing Tools enable you to proofread or summarize some of your written work or any on-screen text, which can be handy for transforming benchmark numbers for this review into tables. Notably, it can compress long PR emails into a more manageable format, though Apple's AI tends to omit important notes when summarizing text. AI writing capabilities seem to be designed for middle managers looking to streamline the work of those who send lengthy emails to their bosses.
Finally, there's Image Playground - an AI-powered image generator with limited customization. I added a photo of me to the generator, and it made me appear more gaunt than I am, aged me by around 10 to 30 years, and had an unhealthy obsession with placing objects on my head. It's amusing when it's not shockingly inept, but it's usually quite dull.
Apple Intelligence is available on all M-series iPads, so it's functional on the iPad Air M1 or iPad Air M2. For those using older-series iPads, Apple Intelligence - or any AI feature that's not cloud-based - doesn't offer any tangible upgrade compared to the devices that don't support it.
iPad Air Feels Like a Bare-Minimum Refresh
Once upon a time, I relied on a notebook for my in-person tabletop roleplaying group, but lately, I've turned to the iPad mini and an Apple Pencil Pro. This, I found, is the perfect size for me. There's not much else I need from my tablet that I can't already get from a MacBook.
If I wanted to employ Apple's tablets for real artistic or rendering purposes, the iPad Pro would be the best choice. If I wanted the thinnest iPad, going for the Air used to be the obvious choice. But nowadays, if you want the slimmest iPad, you also go for the iPad Pro. The iPad Air merely offers a better screen and better performance for streaming or basic productivity tasks compared to the base iPad, which now comes with an A16 CPU. The only drawback: the base tablet, a nearly 11-inch Apple tablet that costs $350, lacks Apple Intelligence. Frankly, I can't argue it's missing much. There comes a point where I have to wonder why Apple didn't name the 2024 big tablet launch the "iPad Air Pro" or "iPad Pro Air." Perhaps a helicopter propeller-equipped tablet doesn't sound appealing, but at least it would be more intriguing than the iPad Air M3. I understand some people want an iPad Air because it seems slightly more powerful than the base iPad, and they're right. However, if you can find an iPad Air M2 slightly cheaper, you'll have the same experience with the M3.
iPad Air (M3) at Amazon
- The iPad Air 2025, featuring an M3 processor, is an update to Apple's mid-range tablet, but it lags behind its more powerful counterparts in terms of versatility, power, or price.
- In comparison to the iPad Pro, the M3 iPad Air's performance in demanding tasks is noticeably lower, with the M4 iPad Pro delivering 600 more points in Geekbench 6 single-core and over 2,700 points more in multi-core.
- Despite the improvements in performance, the M3 iPad Air might not be the cheaper MacBook alternative with a touchscreen, as the cost of the Magic Keyboard edges perilously close to a full MacBook.
- The iPad Air M3's AI capabilities, such as Siri and Writing Tools, may not offer a tangible upgrade compared to the devices that don't support it, and the delayed release of some anticipated AI features like upgraded Siri further minimizes its allure.
