After yesterday’s product tease, Apple has officially announced a refresh of the iPad Air and regular iPad, bringing faster processors to both models.Sorry, no M4 chip. However, the company is upgrading the iPad Air from the older M2 processor to 2023’s M3 so that both tablets can run Apple Intelligence with better performance.

Apple has introduced new 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air models with the M3 chip. The new iPad Air can be preordered starting Tuesday, and will launch on March 12.

Apple also surprised us by releasing the new iPad Air with an M3 chip. Many speculated that the company would move to the M4 chip due to the interim and problematic nature of the M3. That chip was fabricated using an early 3-nanometer N3B process that had serious yield problems. It never saw a full rollout in Apple’s Macs.