Apple Supercharges iPad Air’s Performance With M3 Chip
The iPad Air is now faster and more powerful.
Apple has unveiled the new iPad Air with M3 chip, which brings the tech giant’s advanced graphics architecture to iPad Air for the first time and gives it a substantial bump in performance.
You can pre-order the new iPad model now on apple.com/sg/store, and in the Apple Store app. Shipments will begin arriving starting March 12. The 11-inch and 13-inch variants will be available in blue, purple, starlight, and space grey, with 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB configurations. The 11-inch variant starts at S$899 for the Wi-Fi model, and S$1,129 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model. Meanwhile, the 13-inch variant starts at S$1,199 for the Wi-Fi model, and S$1,429 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model.
This new release is nearly two times faster compared to iPad Air with M1, and up to three and a half times faster than iPad Air with A14 Bionic. As a result, you can expect everything from content creation to playing graphics-intensive games to feel faster and smoother on it.
Apple’s M3 chip features an eight-core CPU that is up to 35% faster for multithreaded CPU workflows than iPad Air with M1. It also features a nine-core GPU that boasts up to 40% faster graphics performance over M1. In line with that, it supports dynamic caching and hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray tracing, enabling improved graphical fidelity in games, with more accurate lighting, reflections and shadows.
Additionally, iPad Air with M3 is built for Apple Intelligence, allowing you to enjoy all the artificial intelligence-powered features that come with the service. These features include the Clean Up tool in Photos, which makes it easy to remove distracting elements in your snaps, as well as Image Wand in Notes, which lets you turn rough sketches into full-blown images.
ChatGPT is also integrated into Writing Tools and Siri, enabling you to tap into its expertise without needing to jump between apps.
With Apple Intelligence, you don’t have to worry about your data finding its way into the wrong hands. The service uses on-device processing, which means that many of the models that power it run entirely on your iPad. And for requests that require access to larger models, Private Cloud Compute extends the privacy and security of iPad into the cloud to unlock even more intelligence. When using Private Cloud Compute, your data is never stored or shared with Apple; it is used only to fulfil your request.
You can pair iPad Air with M3 with the all-new Magic Keyboard, which features a larger built-in trackpad for greater precision in detail-oriented tasks. The add-on keyboard also includes a new 14-key function row for easy access to features like screen brightness and volume controls. The 11-inch Magic Keyboard is available for S$399, and the 13-inch Magic Keyboard is available for S$449.
Alongside iPad Air with M3, Apple also released a new iPad with the A16 chip and double the starting storage. The A16 chip provides a jump in performance for everyday tasks and experiences in iPadOS, without affecting battery life.
The new iPad, which is available with 128GB, 256GB and a new 512GB configuration, comes in blue, pink, yellow, and silver. It starts at S$499 for the Wi-Fi model, and S$729 for the Wi-Fi+Cellular model.
Apple has updated the iPad Air with the M3 chip, bringing a substantial performance upgrade to the model.
The 11-inch variant starts at S$899, while the 13-inch variant starts at S$1,199.
Alongside the iPad Air with M3, Apple also released a new iPad with A16 chip, which starts at S$499.