iPad comparison

iPad Air M3 vs iPad Pro M5

Compare iPad Air M3 vs iPad Pro M5 side by side — chip, memory, storage, display, ports, launch price and how each fits in Apple history.

iPad · 2025iPad Air (M3)A speed bump to the M3 (in both 11" and 13"), adding ray tracing and a faster GPU while keeping the Air’s value pricing.iPad · 2026iPad Pro (M5)The M5 iPad Pro extends the ultra-thin OLED Pro design with Apple’s newest tablet-class performance tier.

Specs side by side

SpeciPad Air (M3)iPad Pro (M5)
ReleaseMarch 12, 20252026
Launch price$599$999
Price today$605$1,009
CPUApple M3 · 4.05 GHzApple M5 · 4.60 GHz
Memory8 GB12 GB
Storage128 GB256 GB
Display11" or 13" Liquid Retina, up to 2732×204811" or 13" Ultra Retina XDR tandem OLED
PortsUSB-CThunderbolt / USB-C
Operating systemiPadOS 18.3iPadOS 26

Method note: historical pricing uses approximate US CPI. CPU clock comparisons are clock-only and do not represent full real-world performance.

Why each matters

iPad Air (M3)

Brought hardware ray tracing and dynamic caching to the Air via the M3.

iPad Pro (M5)

Current iPad Pro generation in Apple’s M5 era.

Open the full archive entries

iPad Air (M3) full specsiPad Pro (M5) full specs

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Last updated: 2026-07-04