Honor MagicPad 3 vs iPad Air 13" (2th Gen, 2025)

Here we compared two tablets: the 13.3-inch Honor MagicPad 3 (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3) that was released on July 2, 2025, against the Apple iPad Air 13" (2th Gen, 2025), which is powered by Apple M3 (iPad) and came out 4 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

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Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each tablet
Reasons to consider the Honor MagicPad 3
  • Higher display refresh rate – 165 Hz
  • Comes with 2110 mAh larger battery capacity: 12450 vs 10340 mAh
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.4)
  • Supports higher wattage charging (66W versus 20W)
  • Compatible with the latest Wi-Fi 7 wireless networks
  • Delivers 22% higher peak brightness (708 against 579 nits)
  • Reverse charging feature
  • The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
Reasons to consider the Apple iPad Air 13" (2th Gen, 2025)
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • 18% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (2764K versus 2333K)
  • 40% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 3044 and 2176 points
  • Ready for eSIM technology

Review

Evaluation of Honor MagicPad 3 and Apple iPad Air 13" (2th Gen, 2025) crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
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Value for money (Beta)

To get an accurate value-for-money index, update the default prices with actual prices from your country’s retailers (for the selected memory configs) and press the "Calculate" button.
Currency
8 / 256 GB
VS
8 / 128 GB
51.4
(Average)
Value Index
52.5
(Average)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type IPS LCD IPS LCD
Size 13.3 inches 13 inches
Resolution 2136 x 3200 pixels 2048 x 2732 pixels
Aspect ratio 3:2 4:3
PPI 289 ppi 264 ppi
Refresh rate 165 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes No
Max rated brightness - 600 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1000 nits -
HDR support Yes, HDR10 No
Screen protection Tempered glass Tempered glass
Screen-to-body ratio 89% 86.8%
Display features - DCI-P3 - DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 99.7% 99.9%
PWM Not detected Not detected
Response time 20 ms 36 ms
Contrast 612:1 1214:1
Peak brightness test (auto)
MagicPad 3 +22%
708 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 293.9 mm (11.57 inches) 280.6 mm (11.05 inches)
Width 201.4 mm (7.93 inches) 214.9 mm (8.46 inches)
Thickness 5.8 mm (0.23 inches) 6.1 mm (0.24 inches)
Weight 595 g (20.99 oz) 616 g (21.73 oz)
Waterproof No No
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Metal Metal
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Gold, Gray Gold, Gray, Blue, Purple
Fingerprint scanner No Yes, in-button
Area 592 cm2 (91.8 inches2) 603 cm2 (93.5 inches2)
Repairability - Average (2.59/5)
Screen-to-body ratio
Tablet Ranking (40th and 30th place)
iPad Ranking (#8th place)

Performance

Chipset specifications of Honor MagicPad 3 and Apple iPad Air 13" (2th Gen, 2025)
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Apple M3 (iPad)
Max clock 3300 MHz 4050 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 2 + 2) 8 (4 + 4)
Architecture - 2 cores at 2.27 GHz: Cortex-A520
- 2 cores at 2.96 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 3 cores at 3.15 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 1 core at 3.3 GHz: Cortex-X4
- 4 cores at 2.75 GHz:
- 4 cores at 4.05 GHz:
L3 cache 12 MB -
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 4 nanometers 3 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Apple Neural Engine
GPU
Graphics Adreno 750 Apple GPU 9-core
GPU shading units 1536 1152
GPU clock 903-1000 MHz 1380 MHz
FLOPS ~2774 GFLOPS ~3179.5 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Honor MagicPad 3 and Apple iPad Air 13" (2th Gen, 2025)
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) 16535 45545
Single-core score 2176 3044
Multi-core score 6707 11749
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
CPU 643259 770486
GPU 818824 1024172
Memory 348314 312462
UX 522888 657090
Total score 2333285 2764210
Samples [298 tests] [4 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability - 70%
Graphics test - 20 FPS
Graphics score - 2695
3DMark Solar Bay
Graphics test - 39 FPS
Section 1 - 52 FPS
Section 2 - 38 FPS
Section 3 - 28 FPS
Graphics score - 10356
Sources: 3DMark [5]

Memory

Configuration
RAM
RAM size 8 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR5
Memory clock - 6400 MHz
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 256 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) iPadOS 18.3 (Can be upgraded to iPadOS 26.5)
ROM MagicOS 10 -
OS size - 23 GB
OS updates - 5 years

Battery

Capacity 12450 mAh 10340 mAh
Max charge power 66 W 20 W
Battery type Silicon-Carbon (Si/C) Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging No No
Reverse charging Yes No
Fast charging Yes Yes (50% in 70 min)
Full charging time - 2:30 hr
Battery cycles - 1000 cycles
Battery life tests
Web browsing - 09:17 hr
Watching video - 13:08 hr
Gaming - 07:13 hr
Standby - 170 hr
General battery life

Main camera

Matrix 13 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4160 x 3120 4032 x 3024
Zoom Digital Digital
Flash LED No
Stabilization Digital Digital
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion - 240 FPS (1080p)
Lenses 1) Standard: 13 MP
2) Macro: 2 MP
1) Standard: 12 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode - Bokeh mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 13 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/2.0 f/1.8
Pixel size - 1.22 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Digital Digital
Macro lens
Image resolution 2 MP -
Aperture f/2.4 -
Stabilization Digital -

Selfie camera

Megapixels 9 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution - 4032 x 3024
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.4
Sensor - CMOS
Autofocus No No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS 1080p (Full HD) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5.4 5.3
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.1
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort Yes, DP 1.2 Yes
GPS - GPS, GLONASS
NFC* No No
Infrared port No No
Network
Type of SIM card No eSIM
eSIM support* No Yes
Hybrid slot - No
5G support No Yes

Sound

Speakers 8.0 Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos - Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness

Other

Category Mid-range Flagship
Announced July 2025 March 2025
Release date July 2025 March 2025
Launch price (MSRP) $599 $799
Sensors - Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Barometer
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Yes, 66 W Yes, 20 W
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

If the camera, performance, gaming, and software are more important to you, then choose the Apple iPad Air 13" (2th Gen, 2025). But if the display is more of a priority – go for the Honor MagicPad 3.

Cast your vote

So, which tablet would you choose?
5 (83.3%)
1 (16.7%)
Total votes: 6

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