Given that Apple only just released it for sale on March 12, 2025, my head is spinning from the run of deals retailers have given the iPad Air M3 this year. At $599, it’s a good buy. On this latest deal at $449, it’s a helluva great deal.

floating on air

Those who create digital art on their iPads or who do light to moderate photo or video editing are ideal candidates for the Air M3 over the regular, 11th-generation iPad, often called the iPad A16.

While the latter is a fine tablet more than up to the task of browsing, doomscrolling through social media and the news, and streaming movies, the latest iPad Air’s Apple-designed M3 processor—shared with the previous generation of Macs—is markedly quicker than the A16 processor used in the base-level ipad.

Sure, it’d have been nice if Apple had wedged an M4 processor in there, since that’s the current processor for the Mac lineup. But the iPad Air M3 is a solid choice for somebody who requires a bit more oomph and power.

Like the iPad Mini, the iPad Air M3 has P3 color space for a wider range of color than the base-level iPad’s sRGB color space. It also adds an anti-reflective screen coating for help in cutting down on glare under direct lighting.

Speaking of that screen, Apple has bestowed upon it an 11″ Liquid Retina, LED-backlit, IPS panel with a 2360‑by‑1640 resolution at 264 ppi (pixels per inch). With a maximum brightness of 500 nits and with True Tone, the iPad Air M3’s display makes images on-screen appear more natural in whichever ambient lighting your iPad happens to be.

The base-level iPad A16 seems to be on a permanent sale of $299. For a while, it was a bit hard to recommend the iPad Air M3 at its full $599 price. But this $150-off deal knocks it back down into being in prime competition with its own stable mate.