Screen size: 11 inches or 13 inches | Display resolution: 2360 x 1640 (11-inch), 2732 x 2048 (13-inch) | Storage: Up to 1TB | RAM: 8GB | Weight: 1.01 pounds (11-inch), 1.36 pounds (13-inch) | Battery life: Up to 10 hours | Front camera: 12MP | Rear camera: 12MP
Read our full Apple iPad Air M3 review
The recently refreshed iPad Air remains the Apple tablet we’d recommend to most people. Yes, it costs more than the entry-level iPad, and yes, there’s still a gulf between it and the higher-end iPad Pro. But no iPad strikes a better balance between price, performance and features. It’s Apple’s “just right” tablet — advanced enough to be a pleasure every day but not eye-wateringly expensive.
The newest iPad Air, launched in March 2025, earned a score of 89 in our review. It starts at $599 for an 11-inch model or $799 for a variant with a 13-inch display. Outside of a higher brightness rating on the 13-inch model (600 nits versus 500 nits), the two are virtually identical, so which one is best simply depends on what screen size you prefer. Most will probably spring for the 11-inch version given that it’s cheaper and much easier to hold. But the added screen real estate on the 13-inch version is great if you typically use your iPad with a keyboard case, or just want more room for watching movies, playing games or multitasking for work.
Both models are much pricier than the base iPad, but the Air’s upgrades mostly justify the premium. It now runs on Apple’s M3 system-on-a-chip (SoC), which is the same silicon found in last-gen MacBooks and iMacs. It’s overkill for web browsing, video streaming and other basic tasks, but it means performance should rarely, if ever, be an issue.
It should also make the Air a little more futureproof, as a number of iPadOS features are only accessible with M-series chips or newer A-series silicon. All of the Apple Intelligence AI tools, for instance, aren’t available on the newest entry-level iPad, nor are the ports of demanding video games like Death Stranding and Resident Evil 4. The Stage Manager multitasking mode is also restricted to more powerful iPads today — though that's changing with the upcoming iPadOS 26 update, which will bring a more robust windowing system in general. (The base iPad still won't have full external display support, however, and it may not run Stage Manager as well on the whole.) The M3 Air also has a healthy 8GB of RAM and 128GB of base storage; the standard iPad also starts with 128GB now but still has a bit less memory at 6GB.
The iPad Air’s 60Hz LCD display isn’t as vibrant or smooth in motion as the 120Hz OLED panel on the latest iPad Pro, and it’s starting to show its age in 2025 when some smartphones offer a higher refresh rate for hundreds of dollars less. Still, it’s bright, sharp and relatively accurate. It’s also a step up from the entry-level iPad, as it’s fully laminated, which means there’s no visible gap between the display and the front glass. That may not sound like much, but it’s one of those things that’s hard to ignore once you’ve seen the difference. The Air’s panel also has an antireflective coating to further minimize glare, plus it supports a wider P3 color gamut.
The iPad Air has had virtually the same square-edged design for four generations now, but it remains sturdy, elegant and reasonably comfortable. It still offers a solid 10-ish hours of battery life, a USB-C port and a Touch ID fingerprint scanner built into its power button (but no Face ID, annoyingly). Apple moved the front-facing camera to the tablet’s long edge with the previous-gen model, and that remains a much more natural position for FaceTime calls in landscape mode.
Unlike the entry-level iPad, the Air works with the Pencil Pro, Apple’s most featured stylus. (Though it’s not compatible with the older second-gen Pencil — yes, the stylus situation is messy.) It doesn’t work with the company’s best aluminum keyboard case, but it supports a new Magic Keyboard with some of that model’s upgrades, including a more spacious trackpad and a dedicated function row. This version is still mostly made of plastic, and its lack of backlit keys is hard to excuse when the older Magic Keyboard — which is thankfully still available — didn’t have that issue, but it remains highly comfortable for typing. All of these accessories add a good bit to the Air’s bottom line, but for digital artists or frequent typers, they’re there.
The M3 iPad Air is a straightforward spec bump, so there’s no real need to upgrade if you’re coming from the M2 or M1 models. In fact, if you can still find a refurbished version of the M2 Air at a lower price, that'll be a better value on the whole. But if your iPad is slowing down, you’re buying your first Apple tablet or you want a 13-inch iPad without totally torching your savings account, the Air should be the first model you consider.