Apple's M3 iPad Air gets a free cellular upgrade during Amazon's spring sale

SAVE $199.01: The 11-inch Apple iPad Air (M3, WiFi + Cellular, 256GB) is discounted to $649.99 during Amazon's Big Spring Sale. That's 23% off its $849 MSRP, its biggest discount to date. It now costs the same as a WiFi-only model.

Apple announced the M4 iPad Air earlier this month, which means Amazon is clearing out its remaining stock of the (very similar) M3 version during its Big Spring Sale this week. If you're hunting for a bargain on a pretty, peppy, and portable tablet, look no further.

In one of the sale's best last-gen tech deals, an 11-inch M3 iPad Air with 256GB of storage and cellular connectivity is marked down to just $649.99 on Amazon as of March 28 — a 23% discount on its usual retail price of $849. Not only has it never been cheaper before, but it now costs the same as its also-on-sale WiFi-only counterpart (normally $699, currently $649). You're effectively getting the cellular upgrade for free.

I wouldn't be surprised if this deal sold out well before the Big Spring Sale wraps on March 31. (For now, it applies to all four colorways: purple, blue, starlight, and space gray.) The 128GB version of the same iPad Air is now out of stock after Amazon gave it a $200 discount at the start of the event on March 25.

A new 11-inch M4 iPad Air with the same specs will cost you $840 at the moment, or $190 more, and I have a tough time justifying that upcharge since it's such an iterative update. It just features a little more RAM, newer wireless standards for some extra future-proofing, and a small performance bump. (Per Mashable Tech Editor Timothy Beck-Werth, "the M3 chip is still powerful enough for 99 percent of users.") Otherwise, the two iPad Airs have the same bright Liquid Retina display, 12MP cameras, Dolby Atmos speakers, and 1.03-pound build.

For what it's worth, I was only seeing this M3 iPad Air deal on Amazon at the time of writing. The same configuration was going for $799 at Best Buy; the Apple Store no longer carries it.

Check out our full list of the best Apple deals from Amazon's Big Spring Sale.