September is always a busy month for Apple fans with new iPhones and new software releases. But I didn’t want to lose sight of the fact that it’s now been six months since the release of the M3 iPad Air.

I’ve always had a strange fixation with the iPad Air, and I’m not entirely sure why. Maybe it’s because the iPad Air 2 was such a legendary model back in the day. As an iPad Pro user, I don’t really need to be interested in the Air, but I genuinely love that it continues to exist.

Having a YouTube channel was all the excuse I needed to pick up the 11-inch M3 Air, and I’ve been using it since release.

It hasn’t been my main iPad, but it has seen regular use for a variety of tasks. So I want to talk about how it’s held up after six months, and where it fits in the iPad lineup now that iPadOS 26 has shaken things up.

Design & Use

The design of the iPad Air hasn’t changed since the fourth-generation model in 2020, and honestly, that’s fine. It’s still a really solid design, and Apple will have a hard time making meaningful improvements going forward. Look no further than the M4 iPad Pro, which got a new design in 2024 that, while thinner, wasn’t a huge departure from the 2018 iPad Pro. In practice, that means the M3 Air will likely hold up just as well as other iPads using this design.

The “blue” color has held up as well as expected…still pristine. Apple seems to have this down to a science. I still wish the Air’s colors were as vibrant as those on the base iPad, but Apple continues to make that a strange differentiator for the entry-level models.

My favorite design tweak this generation is the completely clean back. No “iPad Air” text, no model number, no serial number…just nothing. Just like the iPhone. It’s wonderful, and apparently spreading across the lineup. I’m looking forward to getting an M5 iPad Pro with no text on the back 😁.

Performance

Performance is one of the Air’s strongest points. The 8-core CPU and 9-core GPU remain snappy and responsive for just about everything you’d use an iPad for: browsing the web, gaming, email, and even video editing in Final Cut Pro. In my experience, performance is in the same ballpark as the M4 iPad Pro. There’s plenty of headroom here.

That matters because of iPadOS 26.

The new Liquid Glass design produces real-time blur and reflection effects at 60 frames per second across the entire system. Apple builds efficient chips, but these types of effects don’t come easy. When comparing how iPadOS 26 runs on the M3 Air vs. something like the M1 iPad Pro, the difference has been noticeable. There have been far fewer stutters on the newer iPad Air.

Thermals haven’t been a major issue, despite concerns that the M3’s process node runs hot (it’s the same node as the chip in the iPhone 15 Pro, which famously ran hot). That’s not to say it never gets warm or throttles…it absolutely does. When playing games like Assassin’s Creed Mirage, the right side of the Air (in landscape) can get toasty. The same happens when it’s plugged into an external monitor, though the only side effect there is that eventually the iPad stops charging. These types of behaviors are the natural trade-off with passively cooled devices and are common occurrences across the iPad lineup.

Battery Life

I’ve seen complaints that the M3 Air’s battery life is worse than the M2 and earlier models. I can’t validate that myself since I don’t have the previous model on hand. What I will say is that if there’s one issue common across the iPad lineup, it’s battery life.

And yes, I’m someone who always wants devices thinner and lighter.

So why complain about battery life? Because humans are contradictory. Sometimes we want things that don’t make sense together.

On average, I get about six hours or so of screen-on time during periods where I’m using the iPad Air all day. If my use is more occasional, I get about two to three days of usage.

iPadOS 26

Six months ago, the cheapest way to get windowed iPad multitasking was the iPad Air. And to be clear, that was always kind of a dumb decision. Apple limited windowing to Stage Manager in an attempt to push advanced users toward the more expensive iPad Air and iPad Pro models.

Apparently, that strategy didn’t work, and with iPadOS 26, every compatible iPad gets Stage Manager. And not just Stage Manager: we’re talking full Mac-inspired windowing with features like Exposé and window tiling. Instead of paying $599 for an iPad Air, you can now spend $349, or often less, since the base iPad always seems to be on sale, and get the same features.

So is the iPad Air still the best value iPad?

There are a couple of things to keep in mind:

• Multitasking performance is resource-dependent. One of the ways the new multitasking scales is that apps you haven’t accessed recently can be suspended in the background in favor of the foreground app. On the M3 Air, you can have more windows open and have them stay active compared to the base iPad.
• Full external display support is still limited to M-series iPads. The Air can drive a 6K display, while older and cheaper models are stuck with display mirroring at lower resolutions.

There’s been some recent chatter about Apple releasing a low-cost MacBook in the near future. With this new version of iPadOS, I think people should seriously consider whether the iPad Air might be able to serve that role instead.

Now, yes, the iPad Air plus Magic Keyboard will likely cost more than this budget MacBook (And no, I don’t think Apple would price that MacBook at $600; $700–$800 feels more realistic).

But remember: in some ways, an iPad Air gets you more than you get with a MacBook. MacBooks still lack touchscreens. MacBooks lack cellular options. MacBooks lack stylus support. MacBooks have no world-facing cameras for AI and AR apps. You also can’t detach or fold back the keyboard if you just want to read or mark up a document.

Competitors

I didn’t expect to say anything about competitors, since most companies have given up on tablets. But a couple of months after the M3 Air was released, Microsoft released a 12-inch version of its ARM-based Surface Pro. A few reviews have compared the new Surface directly to the Air. The Surface Pro 12 starts at $700, close to the 13-inch Air, making it the natural comparison point.

Feature	iPad Air 13-inch (M3)	Surface Pro 12-inch
Release	March 12, 2025	May 6, 2025
Processor	Apple M3 chip 8-core CPU, 9-core GPU 16-core Neural Engine (18 TOPS)	Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus 8-core CPU Hexagon NPU (45 TOPS)
Memory & Storage	8 GB RAM 128 GB – 1 TB storage	16 GB RAM 256 GB or 512 GB UFS storage
Display	13-inch Liquid Retina IPS 2732 × 2048 (~264 ppi) 60 Hz	12-inch PixelSense LCD 2196 × 1464 (~220 ppi) 90 Hz
Screen Brightness	600 nits	400 nits
Battery Life	Up to 10 hours web/video	Up to 16 hours video playback
Weight & Thickness	1.36 lb (616 g) 0.24 in (6.1 mm)	~1.5 lb (685 g) 0.30 in (7.6 mm)
Ports	1 × USB-C (10 Gbps) Supports 6K external display	2 × USB-C (10 Gbps) Supports DisplayPort
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 6E, optional 5G	Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
Price at Launch	Starts at $799 (128 GB)	Starts at $799 (16 GB / 256 GB)

The Surface certainly has some advantages: a 90 Hz display versus the Air’s 60 Hz panel, and two USB ports versus the iPad’s one.

But the Air is lighter, has a brighter display, and its M3 chip is significantly faster than the Qualcomm processor inside the Surface. And of course, one runs iPadOS while the other runs Windows. You can make the decision for yourself as to which one is more useful.

In short: the Surface Pro is probably the better computer (something docked to a keyboard and mouse all day), while the iPad Air is the better tablet (a computer you hold and use with your hands).

What Needs To Be Done Next

The M3 iPad Air is a solid product, but there is absolutely room for improvement. Long term, I’d love to see Face ID and ProMotion finally expand beyond the iPad Pro, but Apple seems to be in no rush to do that. So instead, I’ll mention a couple of potentially more realistic changes Apple should make in the short term.

RAM

The iPad Air is stuck with a single RAM configuration: 8 GB. Apple has already signaled that 8 GB isn’t enough for Macs in the age of AI, and I think the same should apply to the iPad. While it would be great if iPads also had a starting RAM config of 16 GB, I’d be fine with 12 GB if Apple wants to use this as a differentiator from the Mac.

USB Ports

The new iPadOS windowing system encourages laptop-like workflows. For this type of user, one port simply isn’t enough. It’s past time for Apple to add at least one more. Apps like Final Cut Pro let you work directly from external drives, and it would be great to be able to keep charging at the same time without needing to use the Magic Keyboard.

Was It a Worthwhile Upgrade?

I didn’t upgrade from another model, but my advice hasn’t changed from six months ago: the iPad Air is still the most balanced option in the lineup. With iPadOS 26, it makes an even stronger case as one of Apple’s best value computers.

If you already have an M-series iPad Air, there’s no reason to jump to this model. You’re still getting all of the iPadOS 26 benefits, which is exactly how software upgrades should work on computers this powerful.

But if you’re coming from anything older than an M1 Air, or you want to step up from the base iPad to something with more longevity, you can’t go wrong with the M3 iPad Air.