Apple has just launch a refreshed version of the iPad Air , armed with the M3 silicon . The innovation language remains unaltered , and there are 11 - column inch and 13 - in size up for grab , once again . There is , however , a new Magic Keyboard design especially for thenew iPad Air 2025 .
The full-grown attraction , of course , is the upgraded M3 processor , which Apple claims is doubly as fast as the olderiPad Air model with an M1 chip . The M3 silicon come with an 8 - core CPU and a 9 - core GPU .
Apple says the M3 silicon chip offers up to a 35 % carrying out boost in multithreaded central processor task equate to the M1 - powered iPad Air , while art carrying out receives a 40 % lift .
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“ M3 also bring Apple ’s advanced graphics architecture to iPad Air for the first time with reinforcement for dynamic caching , along with hardware - accelerated mesh shading and re trace , ” adds the party .
As a result , graphics - base rendering tasks are up to four time faster on the fresh iPad Air , which should facilitate with AAA games based on the Metal framework that have arrive on the Apple Store in the past couple of years .
The AI accelerator engine atop the M3 is also faster , with Apple touting a gain worth 60 % for AI - based work load . On the software side , it runs iOS 18 with the full tidy sum of Apple Intelligence features such as Siri - ChatGPT integrating , Image Playground , Genmoji , and more .
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What’s inside?
The unexampled iPad Air is nearly very to theiPad Air M2 , except for computer hardware - accelerated ray - trace , a ProRes encode and decode engine , keep for AV1 decoding , and a media engine quick for ironware - accelerated 8 K HEVC , 4 K H.264 , ProRes and ProRes RAW .
These features are mostly tie to the M3 Si rise , and target at folks who are eyeing demanding workflows such as video editing and playing next - gen games such asResident Evil : VillageandDeath Stranding : Director ’s Cut . I had a fantastic time playing these gameson myM1 iPad Pro , and ask nothing unlike on the iPad Air .
You get an 11 - inch ( 2360 x 1640 pixels ) screen with 500 nits peak brightness on the smaller version , while its larger sibling serves a 13 - in ( 2732 x 2048 pixels ) display with a high 600 nit brightness . Coming to stylus input , the new tablets support Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Pencil USB - C.
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The M3 Si also mirror what the M2 chip had to declare oneself viz . an 8 - effect CPU , a 9 - core GPU , and a 16 - magnetic core NPU . There ’s 8 GB of RAM inside the refreshed iPad Air , match the entry - leveliPad Pro with the M4 processor .
barrage life figures also rest unchanged . orchard apple tree claims up to 10 hours of internet browse or video recording watching on a single charge when tethered to a Wi - Fi connection , and nine hr in cellular mode .
There ’s a 12 - megapixel camera at the back , capable of recording up to 4 K 60fps videos , and full - HD slo - mo telecasting at 240fps . The front camera also trust on a 12 - megapixel sensing element , but there ’s no FaceID support here .
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Biometric certification on this one is handled by a TouchID button integrated in the major power button . The new Magic Keyboard for iPad Air , on the other hand , have a floating intent borrowed fromits iPad Pro opposite number .
The keys offer 1 mm locomotion and rely on the scissor mechanism . Up top is a 14 - paint function words and an extra USB - C port on the ridgepole for pass - through charging .
Price and market release
The 11 - inch iPad Air starts at $ 599 , while education customer can get it for $ 549 . For the 13 - inch form , customers will have to part direction with $ 799 , which is the same price tag as its harbinger .
Color options on the tabular array are blue , purple , starlight , and space gray . As far as storage options go , the M3 iPad Air will be available in 128 GB , 256 GB , 512 GB , and 1 TB variants .
The novel Magic Keyboard , on the other hand , will set you back by $ 269 for the 11 - inch trim , while the 13 - column inch variant goes for $ 319 .
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Pre - orders of the new iPad Air mannikin begin today in the US , and it will start come at the doorsteps of customer March 12 onward .
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Fionna Agomuoh / Digital Trends
Fionna Agomuoh / Digital Trends
