Apple Unveils New iPad Air with M3 Chip and AI Features
Apple has unveiled its new iPad Air, which comes equipped with the M3 chip and artificial intelligence (AI) features. The company has taken this step to attract customers to upgrade and to stay competitive in the market, keeping pace with its rivals. According to Reuters, the 11-inch model is priced starting at $599, while the 13-inch model is priced at $799. Pre-orders began on Tuesday, with deliveries set to start from March 12.
Apple is enhancing its devices with more powerful chips that enable AI-based tasks such as answering questions using ChatGPT, composing emails and messages, and editing photos. As competitors like Samsung and Huawei are busy launching AI-powered devices, Apple also aims to stay ahead in this race.
Last month, Apple launched the budget-friendly iPhone 16, priced at approximately $600. This model features the "Apple Intelligence" feature, which may appeal to mid-range phone buyers in key markets like India.
Apple Intelligence helps users with tasks such as writing emails, sending messages, and editing photos. Although this feature wasn’t available during the iPhone 16 series launch in September, it has been gradually rolled out in various languages and regions.
Apple confirmed that while the regular iPad has been updated, AI features have not been included. The new version comes with double the storage for the base model and includes the A16 chip.
During last year’s holiday season, iPad sales reached $8.09 billion, surpassing market analysts’ forecast of $7.32 billion. Apple reported that more than half of the iPads sold in the past three months were to new customers.
