The new iPad Air is very good. If you buy it, you will almost certainly like it. That’s it, this is a review.
But is this the iPad you should buy? That’s a more interesting question. iPad Air is a study in compromise, even greater than before. Starting at $599, it’s not the cheapest iPad you can buy, nor is it the most impressive. It doesn’t support all accessories, but it does support some of them. It’s fast but not the fastest, thin but not the thinnest, strong but not the most powerful. This is Apple’s attempt to find a middle ground – the features that matter most to most users and nothing more.
Apart from a few specific scenarios, I probably wouldn’t encourage you to buy this year’s iPad Air. Not because it isn’t great – it is great! Except for $250 less you can buy a basic iPad that’s almost as good at every popular iPad activity. The 10th generation iPad is a few years old now, but it’s still a great device, especially after Apple dropped its price from $449 to $349. The iPad, not the iPad Air, is the right iPad for most people.
The new Air is basically last year’s iPad Pro in the form factor of last year’s iPad Air. Both models are identical except for the screen size. The new 13-inch model is, of course, larger in every way and about a third of a pound heavier than the 11-inch Air, which is exactly the same size and weight as the previous-generation Air.
Both new Airs use the same M2 chip as the old Pro, and in my tests they perform virtually identically – it’s a fast and reliable chip, although the new M4 processor in this year’s iPad Pro performs similarly in benchmarks. The screen is the same as last year’s Air, the battery life is the same, and the rear camera is the same – it’s just a difference in specs on the same device.
During my testing, I only noticed one change from the old Air: Apple moved the front camera to the center of the horizontal edge, which means I can use it for video calls without looking like I’m always staring up and away from the screen. This is a great change that Apple should have made a long time ago. If you’re looking to buy an Air, I’d recommend this over the previous generation to get the camera in the right place.
On the other hand, next to this year’s Pro, Air definitely gives the impression of a weaker model. The Pro has a much better OLED screen, an ultra-powerful M4 chip, full Thunderbolt support over USB-C, more speakers, more memory at every price point, and is lighter and smaller in both screen sizes. You pay handsomely for these upgrades, but they are real upgrades.
The air is thin, but not that thin. Photo: David Pierce / The Verge
But honestly? If you’re looking for a way to send emails, browse the web, play games, or maybe make an iMovie or two, none of these things will really change the way you use your iPad. An iPad is an iPad is an iPad, and until Apple fixes a lot of things or opens up the operating system – and I wouldn’t hold my breath on either of them – you just won’t get enough of the extra oomph out of it all to make it a necessary upgrade. You can do a lot of things on the iPad, which is great! But the list is almost the same regardless of which tablet you’re holding. The iPad Pro is undoubtedly the best iPad, but it is also a very expensive iPad. And it’s still an iPad.
There are only two Pro features that I really missed in everyday use after switching to the iPad Air. The first is Face ID: The Air uses Touch ID on the home button to log you into the device, which works well enough, but Face ID on the Pro makes it feel like you never have to log in. The second is the row of function keys on the Magic Keyboard. Especially on the 13-inch Air, the Magic Keyboard is large, roomy, and great to type on — which means I missed quick access to playback, brightness, and more.
I love Magic Keyboard. Function keys are missing. Photo: David Pierce / The Verge
In real-world use, the Air is much closer to the base iPad than the Pro, which puts it in an awkward position for animation. Instead of the A14 Bionic, you’ll get an M2 chip, and as Apple continues to introduce AI features to its device, it’s possible that having incredible processing power will become very useful. The M2 is certainly a more future-proof option, but the A14 Bionic is fully capable of handling the typical workload of an iPad.
Otherwise, the base iPad and Air have the same cameras and camera placement, the same Touch ID system, and the same battery life. The iPad is slightly larger than the Air, but we’re talking hundredths of inches and pounds. There is also no headphone jack, which remains stupid and bad. The Air screen is definitely better – this is probably the most important specification update compared to the regular iPad. But a regular iPad is good enough – just don’t look at them side by side. Ignorance is bliss; It’ll be all right.
The Air gets points for supporting the Pencil Pro, something the regular iPad doesn’t have. The iPad wins points for having a row of features in the Magic Keyboard Folio, but loses some because it doesn’t feel as durable as the larger accessory. (Can I just say, by the way, that it doesn’t make sense which keyboards have which features on which iPads? It doesn’t make any sense.) The iPad is also available in much nicer colors, although I like the look of the white Magic Keyboard, and that’s just in the case of Air.
The tenth-generation iPad is still a great (and recently cheap) tablet. Photo: Dan Seifert / The Verge
Ultimately, I think the Air vs. iPad I can answer in two questions. Want a big screen? Are you taking advantage of the crap that Apple Pencil has to offer? If so, buy Air. The 13-inch model is the cheapest large screen in Apple’s lineup – a whopping $500 less than a comparable iPad Pro – and the 11-inch model is the cheapest way to access the Pencil Pro. Done and done.
Otherwise, buy a regular iPad, which is already a great tablet at a great new price. There’s an even better way to upgrade: I encourage you to spend $150 to upgrade a basic iPad to a cellular model instead of $250 to upgrade to an Air. Having an iPad that’s always connected and doesn’t require you to think is a revolution in tablet life.
My standard shopping advice is: buy the best things you can afford and then keep them as long as possible. However, I’m sure that even a two-year-old 10th-gen iPad can handle most things really well for a long time. The same goes for Air, of course! But the bad news for Apple and the good news for you is that every iPad is a great iPad – including the cheapest ones.
Credit : www.theverge.com
