Any experienced iPad users here . . . .

Currently have an iPad Air 4th Gen (A14 chip) running iPad OS 26.5

Since updating to OS 26.x.x it has slowed a bit and has trouble when I want to use 2 or 3 apps open on the screen at once in Windowed Apps mode, usually Photos, Safari (with multiple tabs) and Pages. With music playing in the background, one of the apps usually self quits after a few minutes.

I am thinking of upgrading to either the latest base iPad with the A16 chip, or an iPad Air With the M3 chip.

Will the A16 iPad work well in the same situation or would I really need the M3 chip?

Both are an option but don't want to spend more than I need to but acknowledge that the M3 will last longer with future OS updates.

There are expectations there will be a new base iPad launched in the Autumn that would be a more recent chip that would support the AI features. Chip would be A18 or A19 compared to the current A16. If you can wait until the new releases then the base model could be good and would be a relatively long support time for the chip.

If you can afford an iPad with M3 chip it will have the longest support life of those two, or wait to see what launches. The Air with M3 will be quite a beast, I have a old Pro with M2 and its dramatic. The M1 and later iPads have 8 GB of RAM whereas the your older model probably has 4 GB and some have 6 GB. The more RAM makes iPadOS run smoother to me.