Apple’s iPad Air Is More Powerful Than Ever but Feels Stale

It feels like it was just yesterday that Apple launched the M2-powered iPad Air. In fact, it’s been 10 months, but that’s still far too soon for a new version in my book. Yet here we are, with a new iPad Air—this time with an M3 chip. The tablet delivers a minor boost in performance compared to its predecessor, but it does come with features like ray tracing, mesh shading, and dynamic caching to power graphics-intensive tasks. This is a first for the iPad Air, making it the most affordable way into these advanced capabilities for those who need it—like creative professionals or gamers—who don’t want to splurge on the iPad Pro.

But that’s it as far as new features go for the seventh-generation iPad Air. Apple used the same chassis, so you’ll have a choice between the 11-inch and 13-inch display sizes. While it’s a perfectly fine tablet in terms of usability, Apple failed to address the major critiques from last year’s model: its density, battery life, and lack of an OLED (or even mini LED) panel. All of these are factors that would’ve helped justify a next-generation iPad Air so soon.

Reuse and Recycle

In my review of the M2-powered iPad Air (8/10, WIRED Recommends), I described the design as stale compared to the redesigned iPad Pro (6/10 WIRED Review). Now, seeing Apple recycle the same chassis as last year’s model, my feelings haven’t changed. It’s comical that the iPad Air is still a few grams heavier and almost a full milimeter thicker than the iPad Pro. The tablet feels lightweight and slim regardless, but it’s not as impressively thin as its more expensive counterpart—especially when you add accessories to it. And, while Apple didn’t take away color options this time (we lost the pink last year and the green before that), it didn’t add any, either. You’ll have a choice between blue, purple, starlight, and space gray.

You also have a choice between an 11-inch display or a 13-inch display. Apple sent me the latter, which I prefer since the extra screen real estate makes it that much more comfortable to use as a secondary display and to watch TV. It’s slightly brighter than the smaller model, with 2,732 x 2,048 resolution (264 ppi) and hits 600 nits of peak brightness in Standard Dynamic Range. It gets plenty bright for the most part, but you’ll have to increase it to full brightness in direct sunlight. I had to do this while watching an episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians in front of my bedroom window. Otherwise, I typically keep it at a little under 50 percent brightness.

As with last year’s tablet, I continue to question why Apple didn’t nix the LCD panel and replace it with mini LED (as seen on the iPad Pro from 2021 and 2022), at least on the larger model. This feels like a no-brainer for multiple reasons in addition to the fact that it would allow for an even brighter screen).

For starters, it goes hand in hand with the M3 chip’s graphics architecture. This iPad will attract a lot more creatives who are in the market for a powerful tablet (and a large screen). To fully leverage the processor, it’s intended to be used with apps like Adobe Photoshop or Final Cut Pro—where editing content requires a certain attention to color accuracy.

Photograph: Brenda Stolyar