Apple has updated the iPad Air with an all-new design, larger display, and powerful new processor. The new iPad Air (4th Gen) borrows heavily from the iPad Pro line but incorporates some new improvements and achieves a more approachable price point, between the iPad Pros and entry-level iPad. The new iPad Air is available in five colours: Silver, Space Grey, Rose Gold, Green, and Sky Blue.
The new design occupies roughly the same footprint as the previous-gen iPad Air, but allows for a larger 10.9-inch screen with no physical Home button, rather than a 10.5-inch screen. There's still a Touch ID fingerprint sensor rather than Face ID cameras. The sensor has been integrated into the power/ standby button. The sides are flat, much like the current iPad Pro and rumoured iPhone 12 series.
Apple touts the quality of its liquid retina display, which has a resolution of 2360x1640 pixels and is fully laminated with an anti-reflective coating. It supports the P3 wide colour gamut and Apple's True Tone colour adjustment feature.
The new Apple A14 Bionic processor debuts with the iPad Air (4th Gen), promising up to 40 percent better CPU performance and 30 percent faster graphics than the previous generation. Apple touts better sustained performance at low power for editing 4K video, playing immersive games, and much more.
The company has used an industry-first 5nm manufacturing process to fit 11.8 billion transistors into the A14 Bionic SoC as well as improve power efficiency. The next-generation 16-core neural engine, plus new CPU-bound machine learning acceleration, are said to account for 70 percent faster machine learning operations.
Demos shown during the launch included real-time tracking and interpretation of hand movements using the front camera, to scratch a virtual record in a DJ app, for example. Games also benefit from improved textures, shadows and reflections. “Breakthrough” machine learning performance can allow for photo enhancement, upscaling low-resolution images by recognising and processing edges, details, colours, gradients, and textures.
As heavily rumoured, the new iPad Air features a USB Type-C port rather than Apple's proprietary Lightning connector, for data transfers at up to 5Gbps which is said to be 10X faster. A 20W Type-C charger and cable are included in the box. The iPad Air supports external storage devices and up to a 4K monitor through the Type-C port. Wi-Fi 6 and 60 percent faster LTE with a Nano-SIM or eSIM (on cellular models) are also supported, in addition to iBeacon microlocation.
Other features include stereo speakers, a 7-megapixel front-facing camera with 1080p video recording and better low-light performance, and the same 12-megapixel rear camera as the iPad Pro with focus pixels and stabilised 4K video recording. The new iPad Air supports the 2nd Gen Apple Pencil and has a magnetic connector to charge and store it. The new tablet also works with Apple's Magic Keyboard and third-party accessories featuring integrated trackpads.
Apple also refreshed its entry-level iPad, marking the 10th anniversary of the lineup. It's now available in Silver, Space Grey, and Rose Gold. Apple says the iPad is one of the most successful consumer products ever, with over 500 million sold, and more than half of purchases coming from first-time buyers.
In the Box: iPad Air (4th Gen), USB-C Charge Cable, USB-C Power Adapter
KEY SPECS
NETWORK
Technology: GSM / HSPA / LTE
LAUNCH
Announced: 2020, September 15
Status: Available. Released 2020, October 23
BODY
Dimensions: 247.6 x 178.5 x 6.1 mm (9.75 x 7.03 x 0.24 in)
Weight: 458 g (Wi-Fi) / 460 g (3G/LTE) (1.01 lb)
Build: Glass front, aluminum back, aluminum frame
SIM Nano-SIM, eSIM
Stylus support
DISPLAY
Type: Liquid Retina IPS LCD, 500 nits (typ)
Size: 10.9 inches, 359.2 cm2 (~81.3% screen-to-body ratio)
Resolution: 1640 x 2360 pixels (~264 ppi density)
Protection: Scratch-resistant glass, oleophobic coating
True-tone
Wide color: gamut
PLATFORM
OS: iPadOS 14.1, upgradable to iPadOS 14.5.1
Chipset: Apple A14 Bionic (5 nm)
CPU: Hexa-core (2x3.0 GHz Firestorm + 4x1.8 GHz Icestorm)
GPU: Apple GPU (4-core graphics)
MEMORY
Card slot: No
Internal: 256GB 4GB RAM
MAIN CAMERA - Single
12 MP, f/1.8, (wide), 1/3", 1.22µm, dual pixel PDAF
Features: HDR
Video: 4K@24/30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps; gyro-EIS
SELFIE CAMERA - Single
7 MP, f/2.0, 31mm (standard)
Features: HDR
Video: 1080p@30/60fps
SOUND
Loudspeaker: Yes, with stereo speakers
3.5mm jack: No
COMMS
WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, dual-band, hotspot
Bluetooth: 5.0, A2DP, EDR
GPS: Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS (LTE model only)
NFC: No
Radio: No
USB: USB Type-C; magnetic connector
FEATURES
Sensors: Fingerprint (top-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, compass, barometer
Siri natural language commands and dictation
BATTERY
Type: Li-Ion 7606 mAh (28.93 Wh), non-removable
Talk time: Up to 10 h (multimedia)
MISC
Colors: Space Gray, Silver, Rose Gold, Green, Sky Blue