Review: has the new iPad Air (M3) made the Pro model redundant?
Equipped with the M3 chip, the iPad Air boasts plenty of power. It’s also been available in a 13-inch version since 2024. The result? Relegation of the iPad Pro to second choice in most cases.
The 13-inch iPad Air is brilliant for editing photos and videos. It’s also wonderfully well-suited to drawing and gaming. My colleague David Lee had the same experience when he tested the iPad Air (M2), which is easily powerful enough for most use cases. Thanks to the M3 chip, however, the Air has now shifted even closer to the Pro model fitted with the M4 chip. That means the question for potential buyers is: which model is the more sensible purchase? Forking out so much extra for the Pro model will rarely pay off.
Size and display selection
For a year now, customers looking for a large display haven’t needed to go for the Pro model. That’s because the iPad Air (M3) is available in both 11- and 13-inch versions. The feature Apple has kept solely for the iPad Pro, however, is the OLED display. The IPS panel in the iPad Air (M3), referred to by Apple as a Liquid Retina display, is the same as its predecessor. Although the screen is stylish, it has its disadvantages. Take dark scenes in films, for example. The iPad Pro (M4)’s Tandem OLED is considerably brighter, delivers perfect black levels, and the colours really pop. If that’s important to you, the Pro is the iPad for you.
If the colour matters to you, you’ll enjoy the iPad Air’s wider selection of shades. It’s available in blue, purple and light yellow as well as the regular dark grey. If you go for the Pro, you’ll only have a choice of grey or black.
The hardware is the main selling point
When testing the iPad Pro M4, I noticed the device packs too much power. There are very few situations when you can make full use of its potential. As you can see in the chart below, the M3 in the iPad Air is slightly weaker than the M4. However, it’s more powerful than the M2 in the older iPad Air.
One point you shouldn’t forget to consider is RAM. While the iPad Air only comes with 8 GB, the iPad Pro M4 is also available in a 16 GB version. One advantage of having more RAM is that you can run more apps simultaneously in the background, allowing you to switch between them more smoothly.
Even so, I found the iPad Air’s 8 GB perfectly fine for day-to-day use. I didn’t have any trouble switching between apps, even when I had five open at once. You can also use several apps simultaneously. Thanks to the Stage Manager feature, I was able to run a Procreate tutorial in a corner of the screen while following along in a drawing program. I even managed to play a film on one side of the screen while gaming on the other. The iPad Air had zero issues with it.
Painting: Procreate (Dreams) runs seamlessly
Speaking of Procreate, the developers have optimised it for iPads. As a result, the program runs smoothly on the iPad Air. In contrast to the iPad Pro (M4), the iPad Air (M3) creates significantly fewer layers on the same canvas in Procreate.
The iPad Air (M3) still manages five layers on a canvas measuring 70 × 60 centimetres, at a resolution of 300 DPI. That’s enough for most projects. Using the Pro model with 16 GB of RAM, I can actually use up to 28 layers on the same canvas.
Video editing: render films on the go
The iPad Air also supports video editing. In Davinci Resolve, it takes about two and a half minutes to render a 4K video lasting 1.2 minutes. For comparison, the Pro model takes 2.1 minutes to render the same video. Social media videos and the like are easy to work on and edit on the go with the iPad Air.
Source: Michelle Brändle
OLED would be awesome for gaming and watching films
The iPad Air is good for watching movies while you’re travelling or at home in bed. As we’ve already covered, OLED has the edge over the IPS panel during dark scenes. As for bright scenes, I only noticed slight differences. Incidentally, the 13-inch display only gives you a slightly larger picture than the 11-inch display. Most films and series are in 16:9 format, and show up with thick, black edges on the 4:3 iPad display.
The same shortcoming rears its head during gaming. Most of the games I play are cheerful and bright (think Genshin Impact or Sky – Children of the Light), so the difficulties the iPad encounters during dark scenes aren’t such a big deal. The iPad Air’s performance, generally stylish display and controller support make gaming on the tablet enjoyable.
Price: the Air’s accessories are cheaper
The iPad Air (M3) certainly doesn’t come cheap. It’s currently priced at 599 francs (RRP) for the 11-inch version and 799 francs for the 13-inch version. If you want an iPad Pro, you’ll have to fork out considerably more – and not just for the device itself. The accessories are pricier too. Let’s say you want the iPad’s official keyboard, the Magic Keyboard. This will set you back CHF 269 for the iPad Air and CHF 299 for the iPad Pro. In other words, CHF 30 more. The iPad Pro (M4) itself is available from CHF 999.
Accessories for the iPad Air
- Magic Keyboard (Swiss layout): 269.– (RRP)
- Apple Smart Folio: 99.– (RRP)
- Apple Pencil Pro: 129.– (RRP)
- Apple Pencil (USB-C): 79.– (RRP.)
If you buy a small iPad Air with a keyboard instead of going for the iPad Pro combo, you’ll save 430 francs in total – that’s a huge amount.
In a nutshell
Give the iPad Air (M3) OLED!
With the iPad Air (M3), you can play games, draw, watch films or edit videos without a hitch. On paper, it has its drawbacks compared to the iPad Pro (M4), but I didn’t really notice them during day-to-day use. The only thing Apple has reserved solely for the Pro model is the OLED panel. Although that’s unfortunate in some situations, it does make the iPad Air cheaper.
The iPad Air (M2) also packs a decent bit of power, so it’ll probably be totally sufficient for most use cases. What’s more, the performance difference between the M2 and the M3 is negligible. Mind you, you could say exactly the same about the price difference. We’re currently selling the iPad Air (M2) at a minimum of 570 francs – about 30 francs less than the M3. With this in mind, I’d say the iPad Air (M3) is the better choice and good value for money.
I’d recommend the iPad Pro to FOMO sufferers and anyone who pushes their tablet to the limit with complex drawing projects, lengthy gaming sessions and movie marathons. The price, however, is pretty steep.
Pro
- Available in 11-inch and 13-inch versions
- Powerful M3 chip
- Extremely versatile
- Good value for money
Contra
- Doesn’t have an OLED panel
Header image: Michelle Brändle
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In my world, Super Mario chases Stormtroopers with a unicorn and Harley Quinn mixes cocktails for Eddie and Peter at the beach bar. Wherever I can live out my creativity, my fingers tingle. Or maybe it's because nothing flows through my veins but chocolate, glitter and coffee.
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