Apple iPad Air (M3) review: Worth the upgrade?

It feels like only yesterday I was writing my review of the iPad Air (M2) and while it wasn’t quite yesterday, it hasn’t even been a year since I drew Snoopy and Woodstock using the Apple Pencil Pro on that slab and pleasantly surprised myself by the result.

My point is, the iPad Air didn’t need updating. It was a superb tablet as it was and the one I would have hands down recommended as the best iPad for the majority. That’s not to say the iPad Air (M3) doesn’t still hold that accolade – you now get more power for the same price compared to if you had bought the iPad Air in February – but it didn’t need an update. 

Still, it got one and so here we are. Wondering whether the iPad Air (M3) remains the iPad model to buy? I’ve been using the iPad Air (M3) alongside the iPad Pro (M4) to find out.

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The Disconnekt Downlow

Whether you should buy the Apple iPad Air (M3) very much depends on where you’re at in your iPad journey. If you’re new to Apple’s tablets, then absolutely buy this model. It’s a fantastic tablet with superb performance, decent battery life, a lovely design and an intuitive software experience, maintaining the Air’s status as the best iPad for most people. But if you have an older iPad – especially an iPad Air with M-series processor, consider how much power you realistically need before upgrading as this model is about power rather than reinventing the wheel. Multi-user support would be welcomed in general on iPad, while this model specifically would have benefited from a few extras given the short update timeline, but that doesn’t take away from the iPad Air (M3) being very recommendable. If you’re looking for a powerful and portable tablet with a lovely experience, the iPad Air (M3) won’t let you down – just think twice about how much extra performance you really need if you’re upgrading.

Buy from £599 on Amazon.co.uk; $599 on Amazon.com

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The reasons you should choose the Apple iPad Air (M3)

You’re not supposed to have favourite children but if the iPad models were mine, the iPad Air would be my favourite of the larger slabs. I’ve always thought it’s done a great job of blending power and portability and while it is on the pricey side compared to the entry-level iPad, it’s significantly cheaper than the iPad Pro and overall, you get a lot for your money. 

That’s especially true of the iPad Air (M3) where performance has been taken up a notch thanks to the upgraded processor. Nothing is a struggle, whether multi-tasking, browsing the web, shopping, working on the move or editing images. That was said of the iPad Air (M2) too, which is why I don’t think an update was necessary yet, but I’m never going to complain about more power for the same price, and that’s what you get here.

Aside from the processor, everything else about the iPad Air (M3) is identical to the iPad Air (M2), including both the design and the display. That’s not a criticism – it’s a really lovely design, with the aluminium build resulting in a lightweight and portable offering, while the symmetrical bezels surrounding the display give you somewhere to put your thumbs when you’re holding it.

The Purple and Blue colours remain my top picks of the four colours on offer, as they were on the iPad Air (M2), and I still appreciate the repositioning of the front camera to the landscape orientation that was also introduced with the M2 model. Of course the lack of design changes do mean that if you have the iPad Air (M2) or even the iPad Air (M1), there’s not a huge reason to upgrade unless you really want that extra performance boost, but in many ways that’s a testament to the iPad Air’s design overall.

I had the 11-inch model in for review, which is the more portable of the two sizes (it comes in 11-inch and 13-inch), but if you’re looking for a laptop replacement, or you’re planning on using the iPad Air for watching content, the 13-inch model is the one I would recommend. Speaking of a laptop replacement, there’s enough power here to deliver that but you will want the Magic Keyboard or an alternative third party keyboard for that to be achievable and comfortable.

One of my criticisms of the iPad Air (M2) was that it wasn’t compatible with the Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro that launched at the same time, but thankfully the iPad Air has had some keyboard love this time around with a very similar offering. There’s no aluminium base like the iPad Pro’s option, but there is a larger trackpad, a row of function keys and an aluminium spine with a floating design. The even better news is that this new Magic Keyboard for iPad Air is compatible with older iPad Air models so if you have the iPad Air (M2), you can still benefit, and it’s cheaper than the old keyboard too.

What Apple iPad Air (M3) could do better

The Apple iPad Air (M3) has absolutely nailed power and performance and I mean nailed it. The iPad Pro (M4) is marginally slicker in use, but you really wouldn’t notice that unless you had them side-by-side as I did. I do wish the iPad Air (M3) had done just a little more to differentiate it from the already excellent iPad Air (M2), however. 

The display is lovely, with rich and vibrant colours, great detail and decent contrast but I’d love to have seen either the Mini-LED panel from the older iPad Pro, or an OLED panel this time around. And if neither of these, then the option of the Nano-texture display glass that is available on the iPad Pro (M4), MacBook Pro (M4) and the iMac (M4) would have been very much welcomed as that’s a feature I have come to truly appreciate on my MacBook Pro (M4). 

All that said, the iPad Air (M3) does still have a great screen experience (despite being 60Hz), and it continues to offer a fully laminated display with an anti-reflective coating which does make a considerable difference in use compared to the iPad (10th generation).

I also wish the iPad Air (M3) had switched to Face ID over Touch ID. Don’t get me wrong, Touch ID in the power button is a neat design and one that has worked for years, from the iPad Air (M1) to the iPad (10th generation), but Face ID would have provided that extra reason to pick this model, or upgrade to it from an older iPad Air. It’s not a deal breaker by any means but it is something to consider as the Face ID experience on the iPad Pro (M4) is more seamless and fluid in use.

iPadOS 18 and Apple Intelligence

Speaking of fluid use, the iPad Air (M3) runs on iPadOS 18, which was announced during WWDC in June 2024 and released in September 2024. That means you get the same experience on the iPad Air (M3) as you would on older iPads that support the software, as well as the more expensive iPad Pro (M4). The iPad Air (M3) also offers Apple Intelligence, which you will find on older iPads that have Apple’s M-series chips, as well as newer models like the iPad mini (A17 Pro). 

Overall, the software experience is great and a huge number of apps within the App Store are optimised for the larger screen, resulting in a better experience generally than you get with Android tablets. There are some lovely features, from Game Mode to Smart Script in Notes, the latter of which is favourite of mine. It will automatically neaten up your handwriting as you jot down your notes, which let’s face it, most of us need. 

Widgets on the Home Screen and Lock Screen are handy too, and just like on iPhone, you can customise both a lot more than you could previously, throwing an entire tint over all the app icons if you want to. Apple Intelligence meanwhile, adds some extra tricks, from Clean Up in Photos that lets you remove unwanted people or objects from your images, to Writing Tools where you can rewrite, proofread and summarise text anywhere you have a cursor. 

With Apple Intelligence, the features I use most tend to be recording and transcribing audio in Notes, as well as the Notification Summary feature. But, everyone is different and you might find the Writing Tools especially helpful, or you might enjoy using Image Wand for transforming a rough sketch into a slightly better image, similar to Samsung’s Sketch to Image on its Galaxy devices. Whatever you’re doing, the iPad Air (M3) does offer a smooth and consistent experience. 

I mentioned earlier that there was enough power here to allow the iPad Air (M3) to act as a laptop replacement and that remains true, though iPadOS is still more restrictive than macOS so keep that in mind. There’s good multi-tasking and using Split View and Slide Over is easy to allow you to use a couple of apps simultaneously, but there’s not as much fluidity for multiple apps as macOS, and iPadOS doesn’t support multiple users either like macOS does.

Should you buy the Apple iPad Air (M3)?

Whether you should buy the Apple iPad Air (M3) very much depends on where you’re at in your iPad journey. If you’re new to iPad, then absolutely buy this model. It’s a fantastic tablet with superb performance, decent battery life, a lovely design and an intuitive software experience. If you already have an iPad Air with an M-series chip, there’s a very good chance you don’t need to upgrade yet. That’s definitely true if you have the iPad Air (M2), though it’s a solid upgrade option for those on older iPads like the iPad (9th generation) so as I said, it really does depend.

Apple’s iPad Air (M3) is an excellent tablet, there’s no denying that, and it retains the Air’s status as the best iPad for most people. Multi-user support would be welcomed in general on iPad, while this model would have benefited from a few extras given the short update timeline, like Face ID or an OLED panel, but those are minor qualms in the grand scheme of things and neither take away from the iPad Air (M3) being very recommendable. If you’re looking for a powerful and portable tablet with a lovely experience, the iPad Air (M3) won’t let you down – just think twice about how much extra performance you really need if you’re upgrading.

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