Apple M3 iPad Air review: Apple Intelligence takes centre stage once again

Device is a clone of the M2 version, but generative AI allows it to do more while retaining excellent graphics-related functions

The Apple iPad Air with M3 chip has been built to handle graphics-intensive tasks, the company says. Photo: Apple

Last year's launch of Apple Intelligence marked a new era of focus for the folks at Cupertino, so it's unsurprising that the iPhone maker wants to continuously reinforce this with its products.

This year, we expect the company to make more strides on this front. After the Vision Pro and the iPhone 16e, the next showcase for Apple's generative AI platform is the iPad Air, powered by the M3 chip.

It's not the latest processor – that would be the M4 – but Apple seems to be taking it step by step, having a comfortable lead at the top of the global tablet market. But why only the M3? We will offer our theory later in this article.

Though not the first iPad with Apple Intelligence, the M3 iPad Air stands out for one aspect – it is the first new iPad to come with the service out of the box. The National takes a deeper look into the seventh generation of the device.

What's new in the M3 iPad Air?

In terms of hardware, not much, as can be seen in the table below.

Clearly, Apple is focusing on Apple Intelligence here. But the one thing we would have loved is (finally) integrating Face ID into the iPad Air (and the iPad and iPad Mini, as well). Face ID is only available on a bunch of the iPad Pro models.

Touch ID remains the biometric verification method on the M3 iPad Air, nestled within the top button on the right side, which also switches the device on, locks it and can be used to activate Siri. At least it somewhat keeps alive the memory of the home button, which was finally laid to rest with the release of the iPhone 16e.

Side note here, hopefully, in the next iPad mini, we will see the volume buttons, currently on top on the left side, moved to the right edge, to make the button layout in the entire iPad range consistent.

But if you're really looking for new hardware, there's an updated Magic Keyboard for the device. It has a larger trackpad – good to cover more ground – and, notably, a new 14-key function row that gives access to shortcuts including volume and brightness, similar to what's on the keyboards of MacBooks and iMacs. The keyboard is sold separately, however, for Dh1,199 ($326).

AI-powered graphics engine

Apple has consistently built up the capabilities of its hardware to handle intensive tasks such as graphics. This seems to be the main highlight on the M3 iPad Air. The M3 chip, compared with the M2, has up to 35 per cent faster performance and 40 per cent quicker graphics.

We took it for a spin on Adobe Photoshop and Final Cut Pro and didn't experience any significant lags. The fun part is to see how smooth renderings can be, while it is even more fun to think how far we've come in photo and video editing (yours truly is a relic from the early days of Photoshop and Premiere Pro).

The Apple iPad Air with the M3 chip, attached to the new Magic Keyboard that now has a 14-key function row. Photo: Apple

Note that Final Cut Pro utilises AI, which, through machine learning, boosts the editing experience. Apple recently launched two new AI features on Final Cut Pro – Magnetic Mask, which isolates people and objects without using a green screen to better customise backgrounds and effects, and Transcribe to Captions, which generates captions using an Apple-trained large language model.

Of course, the Apple Pencil Pro (or its USB-C version) is a huge help and it remains as accurate as ever. It comes in even more handy with Apple Intelligence – try it with Notes for handwritten note-taking, with autocorrection and auto adjustment of handwriting, in addition to the mainstays – Writing Tools, schedules management, email organisations, picture creation with Image Playground and media management in Photos.

How long does it last?

Still at up to 10 hours, give or take. Fun fact: 10 hours has been the maximum capacity on all iPad Airs, dating back to the original in 2013. We will continue to tug on Apple's heartstrings to boost this key spec, which has been in place for more than a decade now.

That being said, the new iPad Air remains true to its all-day performance, leaving us in the red just as evening set in, but still good enough to squeeze in less than a couple more hours before we plugged it in (we did go easy on it by then). In our one-hour YouTube-at-full-brightness test, it lost 15 per cent.

Verdict

Apple's M3 iPad Air is basically a clone of the M2 version, but with Apple Intelligence in it, which is no surprise. Does it merit an upgrade over the M2, or older models? Yes and no – it largely depends on how much you value AI.

Apple Intelligence – and generative AI, in particular – is proving to be a hit, considering all the assistance it can give. On the other hand, maybe hanging on to your older iPad Air won't be a bad decision either, as we're guessing there will be a faster cycle for this series. The device was refreshed in less than a year – the gap between the M1 and M2 was two years – so we're guessing an M4 version would come out later this year, which would set the stage to put it line with the M5 at this same point in 2026.

Also, the prices of the M3 iPad Air's Wi-Fi-plus-cellular version is a bit higher than the newest M4 MacBook Air. We do acknowledge that those two products have different purposes, but just a thought (and the latter is a review for another day.)

Read more: Apple slashes prices for new M4-powered MacBook Air

The Apple MacBook Air with the M4 chip comes in a new sky blue finish.