There are reasons to spend more on this Air than the entry-level $349 iPad, even if you're spending $250 more to get it. The two big ones are the M3 chip and Pencil Pro ($129, sold separately) compatibility.

The iPad Air still hits the sweet spot in Apple’s tablet lineup, offering a lot of additional features over the basic iPad while keeping a relatively affordable price.

In fairness, there’s really only one new thing about the new model: it runs on an M3 chip instead of last year’s M2. So maybe instead of a whole new iPad Air, this is more like a mid-cycle refresh. Apple’s chip production changes,