Here Are Benchmark Results for Apple's New iPad Air With the M3 Chip - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Here Are Benchmark Results for Apple's New iPad Air With the M3 Chip

We are eagerly awaiting benchmarks for Apple's fastest-ever M3 Ultra chip in the Mac Studio, but we will have to settle with the first results for the new iPad Air for now.

M3 iPad Air
The first Geekbench 6 results for the new iPad Air with the M3 chip are entirely unsurprising, but sometimes no news is good news. Given there were already Macs with the M3 chip, we know that it is around 20% faster than the M2 chip in terms of multi-core CPU performance, and the new iPad Air has similar gains as expected.

There are currently three Geekbench 6 results for the new iPad Air, and the device has achieved an average multi-core CPU score of 11,605 so far. The previous-generation iPad Air with the M2 chip has an average multi-core CPU score of 9,817, so the M3 chip is around 18% faster than the M2 chip in the iPad Air based on these early results.

This is all good confirmation to have, but as mentioned, it will be more interesting to find out how much faster the M3 Ultra chip is compared to the M4 Max chip. Those benchmarks should surface in the coming days, so stay tuned for that.

Related Roundup: iPad Air
Buyer's Guide: iPad Air (Buy Now)
Related Forum: iPad

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.4 Adds Two New Features to CarPlay

Tuesday March 24, 2026 1:55 pm PDT by
iOS 26.4 was released today, and it includes a couple of new features for CarPlay: an Ambient Music widget and support for voice-based chatbot apps. To update your iPhone 11 or newer to iOS 26.4, open the Settings app and tap on General → Software Update. CarPlay will automatically offer the new features so long as the iPhone connected to your vehicle is running iOS 26.4 or later....
Apple Business hero

Apple Unveils 'Apple Business' All-in-One Platform

Tuesday March 24, 2026 8:53 am PDT by
Apple today announced Apple Business, a new all-in-one platform that unifies device management, productivity tools, and customer outreach features. The service is designed to be a consolidated replacement for several of Apple's existing business-focused offerings, including Apple Business Essentials, Apple Business Manager, and Apple Business Connect. It provides organizations with a single...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Tuesday March 24, 2026 12:31 pm PDT by
Apple today released new firmware for the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, and the AirPods 4. The firmware has a version number of 8B39, up from 8B34 on the AirPods Pro 3, 8B28 on the AirPods Pro 2, and 8B21 on the AirPods 4. There is no word on what's included in the firmware, but Apple has a support document with limited notes. Most updates are limited to bug fixes and performance...

Top Rated Comments

darkelipse04 Avatar
14 months ago
All this power for a device that can’t take full advantage of it. I’ll stick with my M2 iPad which is still overkill for day to day usage.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
14 months ago

All this power for a device that can’t take full advantage of it. I’ll stick with my M2 iPad which is still overkill for day to day usage.
I have an A14 iPad and I don't think I'm pushing it to its limit.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
klasma Avatar
14 months ago

I’d like to know what percentage of people using a m1/m2 iPad actually hit the processing limits.
It’s relevant for tasks like searching in large PDFs and rendering heavy web pages. It’s not that you “hit the limits”, it’s that things go a bit faster.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
14 months ago
I’d like to know what percentage of people using a m1/m2 iPad actually hit the processing limits.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
1rottenapple Avatar
14 months ago
These ultra fast benchmarks will really speed up my YouTube watching.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
14 months ago

This is all good confirmation to have, but as mentioned, it will be more interesting to find out how much faster the M3 Ultra chip is compared to the M4 Max chip. Those benchmarks should surface in the coming days, so stay tuned for that.
I’m gonna go with M4 Max is faster in single core and M3 Ultra is faster for multi core.

A controversial take, I’m sure. :p
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)