You Can Save Up to 23% on an M3 iPad Air During Amazon's Big Spring Sale

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While companies might make you feel like you always need to buy their latest and greatest model, you can save quite a bit by opting for their older devices. These days, the hardware from reputable manufacturers tends to be good enough to last years, which makes one or two generation-old devices a great value. As such, if you're in the market for a new iPad, consider an "old" iPad instead. Amazon has Apple's cellular M3 iPad Air with AppleCare+ up to 23% off for its Big Spring Sale.

As you might assume from the intro, the M3 iPad Air is not the latest iPad Air. Apple has since released the M4 version, which comes with very few perks over the M3. The first, of course, is that it has the M4 chip, which is one generation newer, and also enables the iPad's Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 support (as opposed to Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 on the M3). The M4 chip has one more efficiency core than the M3 (five vs. four), 120GB/s memory bandwidth over the M3's 100GB/s memory bandwidth, and 12GB of RAM over the M3's 8GB.

Aside from that, however, these are the same exact iPads, down to the battery life (10 hours of web surfing over wifi, according to Apple). What you get with the M3 Air, then, is Apple's "modern" iPad design, with thin bezels, a selfie camera along the long bezel (perfect for video calls when holding the iPad in landscape), and one 12MP camera on the back. These are also the cellular models, which means you can pay for an optional plan to use the iPad out and about—including connecting to 5G networks.

Really, the only decision is which size to get: The Air comes in either 11-inch or 13-inch variants, each of which will impact the pricing. The 13-inch is $838, which Amazon says is 16% off the list price. The 11-inch, however, is $718.99, which is 23% off the list price. Both of those prices are for the 256GB wifi-only models. The 11-inch comes in Space Black for this sale, while the 13-inch comes in Blue.

I still use my 2021 iPad Pro with its M1 chip, and it has no trouble handing iPadOS 26. I have no reservations about recommending an iPad with a chip that's two generations newer than that. Apple's iPad software, while more robust than it has ever been, isn't the most demanding, so these chips really do last a long time.

You can save some money if you don't want the model with AppleCare+. Amazon will sell you an 11-inch cellular M3 iPad Air for $649.99, it just won't be covered by Apple's extended warranty.