iPad Air Magic Keyboard: Price Drop & Functionality Upgrades

With the M3 chip and designed for Apple Intelligence, Apple today unveiled the quicker and more potent iPad Air. The iPad Air with M3 elevates the iPad Air’s remarkable blend of portability and power-efficient performance by introducing Apple’s cutting-edge graphics architecture for the first time. The iPad Air with M3 is up to 3.5 times faster than the iPad Air with A14 Bionic and almost twice as fast as the iPad Air with M1.

From playing challenging, graphics-intensive games to producing captivating content more quickly than before, users will experience the speed of M3 in everything they do. On-the-go use is easy with the 11-inch iPad Air, which comes in two sizes and four gorgeous finishes. The 13-inch model has a larger display for more creativity and productivity. The iPad Air-specific iPad Air Magic Keyboard adds functions and lowers prices. The new iPad Air provides an unparalleled experience with iPadOS 18, Apple Intelligence, enhanced cameras, quick wireless 5G connectivity, and compatibility for the Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Pencil (USB-C).

The 11-inch iPad Air costs $599 and the 13-inch $799, making it a wonderful deal. The 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air versions for school cost $549 and $749, respectively. Pre-order the iPad Air with M3 and Magic Keyboard today for release on Wednesday, March 12.

According to Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, Bob Borchers, “the iPad Air is so popular because of its unmatched combination of powerful performance, portability, and support for advanced accessories, all at an affordable price.” “The iPad Air with M3, Apple Intelligence, and the new Magic Keyboard take versatility and value to the next level for everyone from college students taking notes with the Apple Pencil Pro to travelers and content creators who need powerful productivity on the go.”

Supercharged Performance with M3

From travelers editing content while on the go to aspiring creatives using demanding apps and working with enormous files, the iPad Air with M3 enables users to be creative and productive wherever they are. Compared to M1 and earlier generation devices, the potent M3 chip offers several advantages. Compared to the iPad Air with M1, the M3’s more potent 8-core CPU can speed up multithreaded CPU processes by up to 35%.

With a 9-core GPU, M3’s graphics performance can be up to 40% quicker than M1’s. With support for dynamic caching, hardware-accelerated mesh shading, and ray tracing, M3 also introduces Apple’s sophisticated graphics architecture to the iPad Air for the first time. The iPad Air with M3 provides up to 4 times quicker performance than the iPad Air with M1 for graphics-intensive rendering tasks, allowing for more realistic gaming experiences and more accurate lighting, reflections, and shadows.

iPad Air users can benefit from even more AI features in iPadOS with the M3’s quicker neural engine. For AI-based workloads, the Neural Engine in M3 can operate up to 60% quicker than in M1. Support for Apple Intelligence, the option of 11- or 13-inch sizes, and compatibility with cutting-edge peripherals like the new Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil Pro are additional enhancements over iPad models with A-series CPUs.

iPad Air: Built for Apple Intelligence

The iPad Air is designed for Apple Intelligence, a personal intelligence platform that provides pertinent and useful information. Users can use natural language search to find practically any photo or video, and Photos’ Clean Up tool makes it easy to remove distracting elements. Users may use the Notes app’s Image Wand to turn rough doodles into lovely illustrations by drawing a circle around them with their Apple Pencil. Even empty spaces within notes can be circled by users, and Image Wand will use the context of the surrounding area to generate an appropriate image that enhances and visually represents the message.

Apple Intelligence enables users to design the ideal emoji with Genmoji, explore imaginative new visual expressions with Image Playground, and enhance their writing with Writing Tools. Siri is considerably more conversational and can follow along if users fumble their sentences. Users can now type to Siri. Additionally, Siri can retain context between requests, and to its deep product knowledge, it can respond to thousands of inquiries about the settings and functionalities of Apple products, allowing users to learn how to perform tasks like screen recording.

Users can access ChatGPT’s knowledge without switching between apps with its seamless integration with Writing Tools and Siri, making tasks quicker and simpler than before. Furthermore, users can use ChatGPT without registering for an account, and privacy safeguards are in place to hide IP addresses and prevent OpenAI from storing requests. Users have complete choice over when to use ChatGPT, what data is exchanged with ChatGPT, and whether to enable integration.

Apple Intelligence uses on-device processing, which means that many of the models that power it operate alone on the device. This approach was designed to preserve customers’ privacy at every stage. Private Cloud Compute expands iPad security and privacy into the cloud to uncover even more intelligence for requests that need access to larger models. Users’ data is only utilized to complete their requests while utilizing Private Cloud Compute; it is never saved or shared with Apple.

All-New iPad Air Magic Keyboard

With the iPad Air’s brand-new Magic Keyboard, consumers can accomplish more for less money. More accuracy is possible for jobs requiring attention to detail with the larger built-in touchpad, and a redesigned 14-key function row makes it simple to reach things like volume and screen brightness adjustments. The Smart port instantly connects power and data without the need for Bluetooth, and the new Magic Keyboard attaches magnetically. A USB-C charging port is also included in a machined aluminum hinge. The new Magic Keyboard for iPad Air comes in white and has the enchanted floating style that fans adore, with prices starting at just $269 for the 11-inch variant and $319 for the 13-inch one.

iPad Updated with Double the Starting Storage and the A16 Chip

In order to provide customers even more value, Apple also upgraded the iPad today by adding an A16 chip and doubling the initial storage. While maintaining all-day battery life, the A16 chip offers a performance boost for routine chores and iPadOS experiences. The upgraded iPad with A16 is almost thirty percent faster than the prior model. Users will actually notice a 50 percent increase in overall performance when compared to the iPad with A13 Bionic, and the new iPad with A16 is up to six times faster than the top-selling Android tablet.

Better for the Environment

Both the upgraded iPad and the new iPad Air were created with the environment in mind.For Apple 2030, the company’s ambitious goal to be carbon neutral across its entire carbon footprint by the end of the decade, Apple is switching to renewable electricity for manufacturing and investing in wind and solar projects worldwide to charge all Apple products, including the new iPad Air and iPad. All Apple facilities including Apple Intelligence data centers use renewable energy.

Apple uses more renewable and recycled resources to satisfy its 2030 carbon footprint. At least 30% recycled content, 100% recycled aluminum exterior, and 100% recycled rare earth components in every magnet make up the new iPad Air and iPad. The iPad batteries are the first with 100% recycled cobalt and 95% recycled lithium. The new iPad Air and iPad meet Apple’s energy efficiency standards without PVC, mercury, or brominated flame retardants. The packaging is 100% fiber, which helps Apple meet its goal of eliminating plastic by the end of the year.

Pricing and Availability

New iPad Air with M3 and iPad with A16 Comparison

Magic Keyboard Pricing

Apple Pencil Compatibility and Pricing

Trade-In and Payment Options