Apple Drops Two Updated iPads: Minor Upgrades, No AI Surprises

Today, Apple quietly unveiled two refreshed iPads: the iPad Air with a shiny new M3 chip and an updated base iPad sporting the A16 chip. While these updates bring some welcome spec bumps, they’re far from revolutionary—just iterative tweaks to keep the lineup fresh. Notably, the base iPad misses out on Apple Intelligence features, leaving some fans scratching their heads given Cupertino’s big AI push lately. Let’s dive into what’s new, what’s not, and what it all means.

iPad Air: M3 Power and a Keyboard Glow-Up

The star of today’s announcement is the new iPad Air, now powered by the M3 chip. Available in both 11-inch and 13-inch flavors, this tablet promises a solid performance boost over its M2 predecessor from May 2024. Apple claims the M3 delivers up to 20% faster performance, with hardware-accelerated ray tracing making its debut on the Air for enhanced gaming visuals. It’s a nice step up, especially for creatives and gamers, but don’t expect a radical leap—this is more of a refinement than a reinvention.

Alongside the chip upgrade, Apple rolled out a redesigned Magic Keyboard for the iPad Air. Priced at $269 for the 11-inch model and $319 for the 13-inch, it features a larger trackpad and a 14-key function row for quick access to brightness, volume, and other controls. It’s a clear nod to the iPad Pro’s premium keyboard, though it skips the aluminum top case to keep costs down. The design still attaches magnetically via the Smart Connector, and a USB-C port in the hinge offers pass-through charging—handy for power users juggling accessories.

Pricing holds steady at $599 for the 11-inch model and $799 for the 13-inch, with storage options ranging from 128GB to 1TB. Color choices remain familiar: Space Gray, Starlight, Blue, and Purple. Pre-orders start today, with availability kicking off March 12. It’s a solid package for those eyeing a portable powerhouse, but the lack of design changes or display upgrades (still no OLED or ProMotion here) keeps this firmly in “incremental update” territory.

Base iPad: A16 and More Storage, But No Apple Intelligence

On the entry-level front, the base iPad—now officially dubbed the “iPad (A16)”—gets a modest refresh too. It swaps the A14 Bionic for the A16 chip, delivering what Apple calls a “nearly 30 percent” performance boost over the previous generation and up to 50% over the older A13 model. Storage also gets a big bump, doubling the starting capacity from 64GB to 128GB, with options up to 512GB. At $349 (or $499 for cellular), it’s still the budget-friendly pick, available in Blue, Pink, Yellow, and Silver.

But here’s the kicker: despite the upgrade, the iPad (A16) doesn’t support Apple Intelligence, the suite of AI-driven features Apple’s been hyping since last year. Writing Tools, Genmoji, and an enhanced Siri? Nope, not here. This is a head-scratcher, especially since the A16 powers the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 15, both of which handle Apple Intelligence just fine. It seems Apple’s reserving its AI goodies for higher-tier devices with M-series chips (like the iPad Air and Pro), leaving the base iPad feeling a bit left behind in 2025.

Other specs stay static: same Liquid Retina display, same 12MP cameras with Center Stage, same USB-C Apple Pencil support (sorry, no Pencil Pro love here). Pre-orders are live now, with shipping starting March 12 alongside its Air sibling. It’s a practical update for students or casual users, but the AI omission stings given how much Apple’s leaning into that narrative.