But your forgetting the iPad Pro M4 marquee spec, and that is its Tandem OLED screen, which is the best display in the industry right now and nothing can match it. Many people are buying it just for the screen.
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Apple Announces New iPad Air With M3 Chip, Updated Magic Keyboard
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According to the specs page, the 11” is two grams lighter, and the 13” one gram.
The 8 year old 5th gen iPad with an A9 chip still runs the most current iPadOS.
That’s my point. I wouldn’t worry about an M3 iPad not being “future proof”, unless your goal is to get 10+ years out of it, and maybe it is, in which case, fair enough.
And this is why I cringe every time someone treats rumors as fact, like we know what Apple is going to do. People outside the rumor community often don’t even know it is only rumored.
We usually have a good idea.
I think you answered the question.
Differentiation between the models.The vibrant screen is the best thing about the iPad IMO. Yes the iPad Pro screen is fantastic but the screen on the other iPads nearly as good. I was tempted to buy the iPad Pro with the anti-glare nano texture option but it was 2 grand just for the iPad. Add the keyboard and it was more expensive than a MBP.
The screen may be amazing, but it's way too expensive to buy it just for that (IMO)
1. Product differentiation
2. Existing chip manufacturing lines that you can’t just change to a different chip
This won't matter to a lot of people, but if you're into Plex as a family, the new iPad Air has something of interest:
Hardware-accelerated 8K HEVC, 4K H.264, ProRes, and ProRes RAW
Video decode engine
Video encode engine
ProRes encode and decode engine
AV1 decode
The outgoing M2 model
Hardware-accelerated H.264 and HEVC
Video decode engine
Video encode engine
Hardware-accelerated 8K HEVC, 4K H.264, ProRes, and ProRes RAW
Video decode engine
Video encode engine
ProRes encode and decode engine
AV1 decode
The outgoing M2 model
Hardware-accelerated H.264 and HEVC
Video decode engine
Video encode engine
Many years ago, a car company had the okay, good, better and best in their product line; Ford had the Pinto, Ford, Mercury and Lincoln models with the ability to raise the starting prices significantly at every level.
The big picture is that Apple has lots of price points in the iPad lineup so there is an excellent chance of a sale for all levels of income and potential use.
I see the use of the M3 as a good choice to deplete an inventory of chips. We know that Apple iPad OS provides support for a long time after the release of a new model. The iPads will continue to work for years after the operating system can no longer be upgraded.
Two years ago while cleaning out my deceased father-in-law's stuff, I came across the first generation iPad I gave him. I plugged it into a wall wart and it powered up and all the apps worked. Not at the speed of light, but they worked and could be used off line with no issues.
The latest and greatest is really not necessary if the potential user just does some web surfing, e-mail and messaging.
The big picture is that Apple has lots of price points in the iPad lineup so there is an excellent chance of a sale for all levels of income and potential use.
I see the use of the M3 as a good choice to deplete an inventory of chips. We know that Apple iPad OS provides support for a long time after the release of a new model. The iPads will continue to work for years after the operating system can no longer be upgraded.
Two years ago while cleaning out my deceased father-in-law's stuff, I came across the first generation iPad I gave him. I plugged it into a wall wart and it powered up and all the apps worked. Not at the speed of light, but they worked and could be used off line with no issues.
The latest and greatest is really not necessary if the potential user just does some web surfing, e-mail and messaging.
I am one of those people. People buy all kinds of superflouis things they don’t need. I could be fine with a base iPad but watching movies on the iPad Pro is amazing.
I see a lot of people wondering why use an M3 vs and M4. For almost all iPad uses, there is no difference in these chips. If you need the power of the M4, the iPad Pro is available - but I don't see M3 vs M4 as a real negative for this product. It is just product differentiation. Putting an M4 in the iPad Air leaves even less reason to buy an iPad Pro (which won't be updated to M5 until next year most likely).
This seems to upgrade the iPad to 8 GB of RAM across the board, which is useful. A 128 GB storage, 8 GB RAM iPad Air, likely on discount from Amazon/Best Buy, will be a good deal for many
This seems to upgrade the iPad to 8 GB of RAM across the board, which is useful. A 128 GB storage, 8 GB RAM iPad Air, likely on discount from Amazon/Best Buy, will be a good deal for many
So maybe the M2 13" Air (can be found for $100 less than M3 Air) + older keyboard with backlighting and in black (can be found for cheaper than $319) is the better path forward here....think that's the route I am leaning to upgrade my iPad Air 4th Generation solely for the larger screen size + keyboard
I know turbineseaplane it is expensive. Also I know you have expressed your views on your iPP M4 and your not completely happy with it, especially iPad OS, but personally I absolutely love mine with its Magic Keyboard. I use it far more than all 3 of our MBP's in the house. It just feels more cutting edge to use.
If the new model has the 8GB of memory like the iPhones, then perhaps AI works ( there is a difference between it works and works usefully).
You are literally describing the iPad line right now.
The actual differences between the iPad 11 and the iPad Air?
The iPad Air has more ram and a better processor.
By the way, those three different iMac lines, the regular, DV, and DV special edition all had extra bill to order options.
They were also differentiated by different colors, just like the iPad line.
While Apple does have innovative features occasionally, but let's not forget that Apple is also the king of holding back features. E.g. Look at the iPhones with 60Hz displays in 2025.
If there's M2.5 chip, they would have used that.
The M3 is not two years old.
It was first announced on the second to last day of October 2023.
We are only in March 2025.
Not only is it not two years old, it’s not even a year and a half old yet.
GBB had nothing to do with the colours. It was not intended to differentiate between iPads. It only applied to pricing ONE PRODUCT not multiple product. The iPad and iPad Air are 2 separate products in the same way the MBA and MBP are 2 separate products.
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It does not.
The iPad 5 only goes to iPadOS 16, the current operating system only supports iPads from October 2018 or newer.
Classic “ you don’t understand so I won’t explain” dodge.
Makes me think that it’s not me who doesn’t understand…