Apple Sunset

iPad Air (M3)

Discontinued 2 Mar 2026

Released

12 Mar 2025

Announced

4 Mar 2025

Pre-orders opened

4 Mar 2025

Launch price from

$599

Discontinued

2 Mar 2026

Lifespan

1 year

Category
iPad Air
Status
Discontinued
Apple support status
Discontinued, not yet Vintage
Release type
Refresh of an existing model
Previous model
iPad Air (M2)
Replaced by
iPad Air (M4)
Official Apple page
No longer available on Apple’s website
Tech specs
Apple specs ↗
Press release
Apple Newsroom ↗
More information
iPad Air (M3) on Wikipedia ↗

Notes

The iPad Air (M3) kept everything about the previous model except the chip, down to the same 247.6mm by 178.5mm by 6.1mm for the 11-inch and the same four colours. Apple’s announcement did not compare it to the M2 Air at all, only to the M1 from three years before and the A14 from five.

Hardware ray tracing was introduced on the iPad Air with this model, so lighting and reflections in games were worked out by the graphics chip rather than approximated in software. Against the M1 Air, Apple claimed graphics-heavy rendering ran up to four times faster.

A new Magic Keyboard was launched beside the iPad Air (M3), at $269 for the 11-inch and $319 for the 13-inch. That was $30 less than the keyboard it replaced, and it added a larger trackpad and a row of fourteen function keys along the top.

Prices stayed where they had been for both sizes, with the same four storage choices running from 128GB to 1TB.

It was announced on 4 March 2025 in a press release rather than at an event. Orders opened the same day, while it was released to shops on 12 March, priced from $599.

The model it replaced was the iPad Air (M2).

iPad Air release history

  1. 2026

  2. 11 Mar 2026

    iPad Air (M4) ReleasedCurrent

  3. 2 Mar 2026

    iPad Air (M3) Discontinued

  4. ↑ about 1 year later
  5. 2025

  6. 12 Mar 2025

    iPad Air (M3) Released

  7. 4 Mar 2025

    iPad Air (M2) Discontinued

  8. ↑ 10 months later
  9. 2024

  10. 15 May 2024

    iPad Air (M2) Released

  11. 7 May 2024

    iPad Air (5th generation) Discontinued

  12. ↑ 2 years, 2 months later
  13. 2022

  14. 18 Mar 2022

    iPad Air (5th generation) Released

  15. 8 Mar 2022

    iPad Air (4th generation) Discontinued

  16. ↑ 1 year, 4 months later
  17. 2020

  18. 23 Oct 2020

    iPad Air (4th generation) Released

  19. 15 Sept 2020

    iPad Air (3rd generation) Discontinued

  20. ↑ 1 year, 6 months later
  21. 2019

  22. 18 Mar 2019

    iPad Air (3rd generation) Released

  23. ↑ about 2 years later
  24. 2017

  25. 21 Mar 2017

    iPad Air (2nd generation) Discontinued

  26. ↑ about 1 year later
  27. 2016

  28. 21 Mar 2016

    iPad Air (1st generation) Discontinued

  29. ↑ 1 year, 5 months later
  30. 2014

  31. 22 Oct 2014

    iPad Air (2nd generation) Released

  32. ↑ about 1 year later
  33. 2013

  34. 1 Nov 2013

    iPad Air (1st generation) Launch

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