Apple iPad Air 5GEN
The new 5th generation iPad Air (2022) has the same M1 CPU as the 2021 iPad Pros, which means it performs exceptionally well. It's become somewhat of an iPad Pro lite at a more modest price, with a stunning 10.9in 1640 x 2360 Liquid Retina IPS LCD screen with a wide colour gamut, amazing speakers, and very decent battery life - only. It supports the Apple Pencil 2nd generation, has a 12 MP f/1.8 dual pixel main camera and a 12 MP f/2.4 ultrawide selfie camera, and is available in five colours.
iPad Air : Display
The screen on the new iPad Air hasn't changed much from the previous model, so expect a 2360x1640 IPS LCD panel. That's 264 pixels per inch, which isn't as crisp as the iPad mini (6th Gen) or phone screens, but it's enough detailed for the iPad Air's typical distances.
Switching from the iPad Air to the iPad Pro gives you no advantage in terms of resolution - both are 264ppi.
It's a terrific screen for creative use in general, with strong DCI-P3 colour compatibility and superb accuracy. The backlighting is even, and the contrast is good - the highest usual brightness of 500 nits adds a lot of vitality to movies and apps.
However, the 11-inch iPad Pro's 600 nits of brightness is a notable boost when compared to the previous model, albeit it's more difficult to notice a difference individually. That's not the case with the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, which has a mini-LED 'XDR' display that can achieve 1,000 nits of full-screen brightness for HDR video, making it stand out even when there are no other screens around.
Because double the refresh rate halves the time it takes to see the results of your drawing on-screen, and faster response times make precision drawing simpler, the lack of a 120Hz screen is only a practical worry for Apple Pencil 2 users.
Aside from that, 120Hz looks great for animations and scrolling. Going back to 60Hz feels jerky and blurry once you've tried it, but there's no apparent gain. It's just more fluid.
iPad Air : Apple Pencil 2
As previously stated, the Apple Pencil 2 is completely supported here. This means that the Pencil magnetically attaches to the side of the iPad not only for storage, but also to charge wirelessly while it's there, ensuring that it's always charged and ready to go when you need it.
When you attach it to the side, it automatically couples with that iPad, so there's no need to worry about setting it up or moving between iPads.
The Apple Pencil 2 has a matte finish (as opposed to the glossier previous edition), and it has outstanding tilt and pressure accuracy. The glass's firm tip takes some getting used to, but it's hard to complain about.
iPad Air : Performance
For a fabless tablet, the Apple M1 chip is a powerhouse. Eight processing cores (four high-performance cores and four energy-efficient cores, all of which can be used at the same time), 8GB of RAM, and eight GPU cores are included.
The main difference between it and the iPad Pro's chip is that the iPad Pro has a version with 16GB of RAM (if you buy 1TB or 2TB of storage). Otherwise, this is the same silicon that has wowed so many people — in our benchmarking tests, it and the 12.9-inch iPad Pro with M1 were nearly similar.
We got 1713 for single-core performance, 7274 for multi-core performance, and 21212 for GPU compute performance on Geekbench 5. In those tests, the high-end late-2019 Intel MacBook Pro 16-inch (with eight-core Intel Core i9 processor and AMD Radeon 5500M GPU) scored roughly 1100, 7000, and 30000.
The truth is, most of the time, you won't notice this performance. Apple's phone-level CPUs, which were used in the previous iPad Air and the iPad mini (6th Gen), are already lightning fast. When it comes to moving around iPadOS, the iPad Air isn't actually any faster than its predecessor – but let's be clear: it is always fast.
There are no stutters or stops when flicking through a large photo library, selecting a large DSLR photo, zooming all the way in, and then zooming all the way back to thumbnails in the library.
It's fantastic to having 5G as an option, as it allows you to create more sophisticated masterpieces than ever before. Although performance varies greatly depending on network and coverage, breaking 300Mbps download and 30Mbps upload in a well-supported location is no problem.
Apple's standard claims of 10 hours of battery life for casual use – web browsing, for example – are true, and we had excellent battery life during our testing. It also maintains a strong charge between usage, exactly like its predecessors.
However, we observed a power loss of more than 20% per hour while watching a movie streamed from the Apple TV app, so expect a considerable reduction in that statistic if you're streaming movies.
iPad Air : Design
The iPad Air maintains the same design as the iPad Pro and iPad mini, making it look quite similar. There are no pointed parts pressing into your hand because it's all flat sides with finely crafted curves uniting them at correct angles.
Apple's aluminium surface is as premium as ever, and there's a modest colour palette to choose from. The blue was provided for testing purposes, and it is by far our favourite.
The one minor flaw is that while looking at the phone from the front, it can be difficult to figure out where the Touch ID button is when you pick it up.
iPad Air : Features
The latter is straightforward, so let's get that out of the way: it's now a USB 3.1 Gen 2 connector, which means maximum speeds of 10Gbps (up from 5Gbps previously). The iPad Pro's Thunderbolt 4 connector can transfer data at up to 40 gigabits per second.
The front camera has been upgraded to a 12MP sensor with an ultra-wide lens, and it now supports Apple's Centre Stage mode. This means that the camera recognises your face in compatible apps and crops and frames you in the shot. It can actually track you in its 122-degree range of vision if you walk after that because it has a lot of unused vision.
Unlike iPhones, it can record 4K video at 60 frames per second, but not with Dolby Vision HDR. The cameras are fine — in low light, they're softer and noisier than the current iPhones, but they still pull in a decent amount of light and record information.
The stereo speakers are good, and when the tablet is held in front of you, they can generate some stunning spatial separation. They're well-tuned for clarity, with speech coming through clearly even at low volumes. They provide enough bass to give music or movies depth, though not as much as a good pair of headphones or speakers would - but they do ensure a balanced sound.
The Smart Connector on the back of the iPad Air allows you to connect it to compatible accessories, which for now are largely keyboards, including Apple's Magic Keyboard.
Touch ID, which is embedded into the Lock button, is utilised for biometric security. It performs admirably.