iPad Air generation 5 gets a future-proofing boost with M1 chipset

Perfect companion for those who need a powerful tablet they can take with them anywhere

Apple iPad Air 5th generation. Pic: Apple.

For most users, the standard iPad is all you need. It’s powerful with a great display and excellent value for money. If you’re willing to spend more on an iPad, you’ll get even more power and features including a larger screen. 

I love the iPad Pro 12.9 for the extra display size when drawing or watching movies while the iPad mini is great for notetaking and portability, however, the latest iPad Air hits the sweet spot. It now comes with the same M1 chipset found in the more expensive Pro models as well as a gorgeous 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display, impressive stereo speakers and the option to get it with 5G connectivity.

Design

Apple iPad Air. Pic: Noel Campion

The 2022 iPad Air uses the same design as the previous model. It includes a Touch ID sensor built into the power button along with the same flat sides and curved corners. The display has small bezels and you get support for the Apple Pencil gen 2 and Apple Magic Keyboard. 

The latter is the Magic keyboard designed for the iPad Pro 11-inch and as a result, the hole around the back for the camera module doesn’t match the smaller single camera and flash when it’s used on the iPad Air. While it doesn’t really matter functionally, it’s a shame there isn’t a matching Magic Keyboard specifically, for the Air. The Apple Folio Cover does come with the specific cutout designed for the iPad Air.

The iPad Air is the perfect balance of screen size and comfort for those who find the 12.9-inch too big to hold comfortably and the iPad mini’s display too small for media consumption and productivity.

Display and sound

Apple iPad Air 5th generation. Pic: Apple

The 10.9-inch display is as good as it gets for LCD IPS displays. It features all the latest Apple technologies including True Tone, P3 colour and an anti-reflective coating. However, it lacks the 120Hz ProMotion of the iPad Pro and the mini-LED tech that’s still exclusive to the iPad Pro 12.9.

Colours are accurate but you don’t get the same levels of contrast, brightness and viewing angles you get with mini-LED. That being said, the iPad Air’s display is excellent whether you’re watching movies or editing photos.

The display supports Dolby Vision and you will see the logo in supported movies on Disney+, Netflix and Apple TV. However, the contrast and screen brightness doesn’t offer the same stunning HDR results that you get from OLED or mini-LED displays.

The stereo sound system is also excellent and while it’s not as powerful or as crips as the quad-speaker setup in the Pro, it’s still impressive considering the size and compactness of the form factor.

There’s a decent amount of bass and I love the small attention to detail like when you rotate the screen 180-degrees, the system knows and swaps the left and right audio channels so that the sound is still coming out of the correct side.

Cameras

Apple iPad Air with Folio Cover and Magic Keyboard. Pic: Noel Campion

The iPad Air's front-facing selfie camera is 12MP and uses the same hardware as the M1 iPad Pro. What you don’t get here is the TrueDepth camera sensor so there’s no Face ID or Animoji/Memoji support. The good news is that it does come with the excellent Centre Stage feature that uses AI to pan and zoom to keep your face in the centre of the frame. If others join in during a FaceTime or video call, Centre Stage will zoom out to include them in the frame too.

The rear features a single 12MP camera but not a LiDAR sensor. While I appreciate there are those who love and use the iPad Pros' rear cameras and LiDAR sensor to great effect, I find I rarely use it other than for scanning documents or the occasional photo for reference. If you have an iPhone, you can quickly AirDrop photos or images to the iPad Air anyway.

Hardware and performance

Apple iPad Air. Pic: Noel Campion

The iPad Air with M1 is ridiculously powerful. It really is way overpowered for what most users will use it for. However, power users will appreciate the extra grunt in both CPU and graphic intensive tasks like editing photos in Affinity Photo or Lightroom. Editing video in apps like LumaFusion or iMovie is a joy and gamers will love the fast load times and solid frame rates in even the most demanding games.

The updated iPad Air also gets a boost in USB-C port speeds but still lacks support for Thunderbolt which is a pity if you own Thunderbolt only drives.

Apple iPad Air. Pic and illustration: Noel Campion

Apple Pencil gen 2 support is awesome and while the display is stuck at 60Hz it still feels incredibly responsive in apps like Procreate. There’s no appreciable lag in real-world use but some apps are better than others.

All of the notetaking apps I use like Apple Notes, Notability and Goodnotes work so well with the screen size too. The iPad Air is easy to hold and use for taking notes or drawing although I do prefer the larger 12.9 Pro for the latter.

Overall performance is on par with what I expect from the iPad Pro although I did notice the difference between 60Hz and 120Hz when switching between the two.

Battery life

Apple has maintained a 10-hour battery life for its tablets since the first iPad. While this is excellent, it would be great to see this extended even further. It’s worth noting that if you turn up the brightness and perform CPU or GPU intensive tasks the battery will drain much faster. On the flip side, I was able to exceed the 10-hours during a long haul flight with WiFi off and the screen brightness set low.

Verdict

The iPad Air is the perfect companion for those who need a powerful tablet that they can take with them anywhere without spending extra for the iPad Pro. While the lack of ProMotion, quad-speakers and FaceID might make some users pay the extra for the iPad Pro the majority will be happier to save some money to spend on the extras like keyboards, and the Apple Pencil.

Thanks in part to the addition of the M1 chip the iPad Air can look forward to years of iPadOS updates. This is a big deal for those who like to buy a premium product like this and use it for years. While the base 64GB model feels modest, it should be enough for many users. Those who think they might need more will have to pay €170 extra to get 256GB since there’s no middle 128GB variant. With so many great cloud storage options and external USB-C drives that work with the iPad Air, there are plenty of other ways to store your data.

The iPad Air is the sweet spot in Apple’s tablet lineup that doesn’t have an equal in the Android tablet market.

The iPad Air is available in five colours with prices starting from €709 at Apple