Two years after the final replace, Apple has launched the sixth-generation iPad Air with the M2 processor and a brand new measurement. Here is how they evaluate on paper.
The iPad Air is decidedly the mid-range choice within the Apple pill catalog. It is a step up from the iPad and iPad mini in providing Professional-level efficiency via its use of Apple Silicon, however it’s not fairly on the degree of the iPad Pro vary itself.
Apple’s final change to the iPad Air was in March 2022, that means there was a two-year hole between the fifth and sixth generations.
To make the wait value it, Apple has not solely upgraded the chip to M2, but additionally added a brand new measurement choice. One that provides much more display screen area for customers to work with.
That could possibly be sufficient of a soar for finish customers to improve to the newest mannequin. On this comparability, we’ll clarify what to look out for.
2024 iPad Air vs 2022 iPad Air – Specs
Specs | 2024 iPad Air | 2022 iPad Air |
---|---|---|
Display measurement (inches) | 11, 13 |
10.9 |
Base worth | $599, $799 |
$599 |
Processor | M2 | M1 |
Decision | 2,360 x 1,640 (11-inch), 2,732 x 2,048 (13-inch) |
2,360 x 1,640 |
Pixel Density (dpi) | 264 | 264 |
Brightness (nits) | 500 (11-inch), 600 (13-inch) |
500 |
Show sort | Liquid Retina, True Tone, Vast colour (P3), Totally Laminated, Apple Pencil Hover |
Liquid Retina, True Tone, Vast colour (P3), Totally Laminated |
Apple Pencil | Apple Pencil Professional, Apple Pencil USB-C |
Apple Pencil Second Technology, Apple Pencil USB-C |
Good Connector | Sure | Sure |
Dimensions (inches) | 9.74 x 7.02 x 0.24 (11-inch), 11.04 x 8.46 x 0.24 (13-inch) |
9.74 x 7.02 x 0.24 |
Weight (lbs) | 1.02 (11-inch), 1.36 (13-inch) |
1.02 |
Capacities | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB |
64GB, 256GB |
Rear digicam (MP) | 12MP Vast | 12MP Vast |
Entrance digicam (MP) | 12MP Extremely Vast Panorama | 12MP Extremely Vast |
Video recording | 4K at 24/30/60fps | 4K at 24/30/60fps |
Biometric | Contact ID | Contact ID |
Audio system | Panorama Stereo, Elevated bass (13-inch) |
Panorama Stereo |
Port | USB-C | USB-C |
2024 iPad Air vs 2022 iPad Air – Bodily Look
The iPad Air is a pill that bridges between the utility of the iPad Professional and the worth of the iPad. A best-of-both-worlds little bit of equipment.
It makes use of the identical design language because the iPad Professional. Successfully it is an aluminum and glass slab with flat edges and an edge-to-edge show.
The fifth and sixth-generation fashions are very comparable by way of look. There are barely any externally seen variations between the 2, style-wise.
There’s one massive distinction, and that is measurement. The sixth-gen fashions encompass each 11-inch and 13-inch variants, whereas the fifth has a ten.9-inch display screen.
Nonetheless, for the 11-inch and 10.9-inch screens, the distinction is in identify solely. In Apple’s small print, the measured diagonal is 10.86 inches for each fashions.
There’s nonetheless various similarity between the ten.9-inch fifth-gen and the 11-inch sixth-gen variations, if not what Apple calls it.
The fifth-generation mannequin measures 9.74 inches by 7.02 inches, with a thickness of 0.24 inches. The 11-inch sixth-gen has precisely the identical dimensions, in addition to the 1.02-pound weight.
The 13-inch sixth-gen is, naturally, larger and heavier. At 11.04 inches by 8.46 inches and 0.24 inches thick, it has a a lot bigger total footprint. The 1.36-pound weight can also be unsurprising right here.
2024 iPad Air vs 2022 iPad Air – Shows
Utilizing a ten.9-inch show, the fifth-generation iPad Air is pretty near the iPad and 11-inch iPad Pro basically look, and that features the show.
A Liquid Retina display screen, the 2022 iPad Air has a decision of two,360 by 1,640, which supplies it a pixel denisity of 264 pixels per inch. By way of brightness, the LED backlighting of the fifth-gen mannequin manages to push out a usable 500 nits.
The fifth-gen mannequin additionally contains True Tone and Vast Colour (P3) help, although it stops in need of having the iPad Professional’s ProMotion characteristic.
These specification factors additionally apply to the 11-inch sixth-gen mannequin, save for the marginally bigger display screen measurement.
The 13-inch iPad Air has the next decision at 2,732 by 2,048 pixels, with an analogous pixel density of 264 pixels per inch. The 13-inch additionally will get a greater
For stylus utilization, Apple contains help for the second-generation Apple Pencil within the fifth-generation iPad Air, in addition to the Apple Pencil with USB-C. The sixth-gen fashions each help the brand new Apple Pencil Professional and the Apple Pencil USB-C.
The newer shows additionally embrace help for Apple Pencil Hover, the characteristic that exhibits the place the Apple Pencil is positioned on the show with out truly making contact.
2024 iPad Air vs 2022 iPad Air – Efficiency
First launched in 2020 as a Mac chip, the M1 within the fifth-gen iPad Air has proven its value for productiveness. An eight-core CPU with 4 efficiency and 4 effectivity cores, it additionally has an eight-core GPU and a 16-core Neural Engine, in addition to 8GB of reminiscence.
Whereas all different Apple Silicon chips have Media Engines, the M1 nonetheless has hardware-accelerated encoding and decoding for H.264 and HEVC video footage. All it misses out on is ProRes and ProRes RAW acceleration.
The sixth-gen fashions have the M2, a chip with a sooner 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU. Apple claims the brand new iPad Air is sort of 50% sooner than the M1 model for a lot of productiveness and artistic duties.
Once more, the 16-core Neural Engine is offered which is 40% sooner than the M1’s model. Onboard RAM stays at 8GB.
Earlier than the brand new iPad Air fashions ship, the closest comparability we will make is definitely fairly pertinent. The previous-generation iPad Professional used an M2 chip with 8GB of reminiscence, so it subsequently can be very near actuality.
In accordance with Geekbench, the fifth-gen M1-equipped iPad Air manages 2,255 for the single-core benchmark and eight,081 for the multi-core model. It additionally manages a Metallic rating of 31,752.
The 11-inch iPad Professional with M2 is rated at 2,536 for the single-core check, which is a 12% enchancment over the M1. Beneath multi-core, the 9,631 consequence works out to be a 19% enhance of efficiency.
The Metallic rating, measuring graphical efficiency, is 45,160 for the M2 iPad Professional. That is a 42% enchancment over the earlier iPad Air.
Suffice it to say, the M2 ought to give customers much more efficiency to make use of with their iPad Air than the M1 did.
2024 iPad Air vs 2022 iPad Air – Cameras and Audio
Across the again of the fifth-gen iPad Air is a 12-megapixel Vast digicam with an f/1.8 aperture and a 5x digital zoom. That digicam is able to 4K video recording at as much as 60fps, 1080p Slo-mo at 240fps, and prolonged dynamic vary at as much as 30fps.
Apple did not fiddle round with the rear digicam, with the sixth-gen fashions having the identical specs. The one distinction is using Good HDR4 help fro images, somewhat than Good HDR 3.
The entrance digicam has an even bigger change going from the fifth to sixth generations. The fifth locations the entrance digicam on the brief edge, optimizing it for portrait orientation utilization in video calls.
The sixth as an alternative strikes it to the longer edge, making it higher for landscape-orientation FaceTime calls.
That digicam in each generations is a 12MP Extremely Vast shooter with an f/2.4 aperture. It could actually deal with 1080p video at 60fps, full with cinematic video stabilization, however its actual occasion piece is Heart Stage help for video calling.
For audio, the fifth-gen iPad Air would not fairly get the iPad Professional’s quad-speaker setup, however it does have panorama stereo audio system. A pair of microphones are used for audio seize.
There is no sound change for the 11-inch sixth-generation mannequin, however the audio system do handle to get double the bass for the 13-inch model.
2024 iPad Air vs 2022 iPad Air – Connectivity and Battery
The principle bodily connection of the 2022 iPad Air is a USB-C connector within the base, which operates at USB 3.1 Gen 2, or 10Gbps. It handles charging duties, in addition to connecting equipment and storage, and may even deal with an exterior show with DisplayPort help.
There is no change for the sixth-generation fashions, because it nonetheless makes use of USB-C.
There’s a secondary connection within the type of a Good Connector on the again for each variants. It is used for connection to equipment just like the Magic Keyboard.
A magnetic connector exists on one lengthy facet, which is used to pair and cost the Apple Pencil 2 or Apple Pencil Professional, relying on the classic of the pill.
For wi-fi connectivity, there are each Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + Mobile editions for every technology. The mobile connectivity is identical, supporting sub-6GHz and Gigabit LTE, not mmWave.
One factor the sixth-gen fashions lack is a SIM card slot, which is just out there on the fifth-gen mannequin. Whereas the fifth-gen can use a bodily card or an eSIM, the sixth depends solely on eSIM.
Bluetooth does differ between the 2, with Apple choosing Bluetooth 5.3 within the newer fashions over model 5.0. Wi-Fi can also be improved, from Wi-Fi 6 to Wi-Fi 6E.
Biometrics are dealt with by Touch ID, and stays in the identical place embedded within the high button.
Battery-wise, the 28.6-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery of the fifth-gen mannequin is exchanged for the same 28.93-watt-hour model within the 11-inch new mannequin, whereas the 13-inch will get a 36.59-watt-hour model.
No matter mannequin, Apple nonetheless says all variations can final for as much as ten hours of net browsing or video watching over Wi-Fi, or 9 hours of mobile net browsing.
2024 iPad Air vs 2022 iPad Air – Capability and Pricing
The 2022 iPad Air was offered in two capacities, with the 64GB Wi-Fi mannequin priced at $599, with the 256GB model at $749. Mobile price an additional $150, bringing them as much as $749 and $899 respectively.
The 2024 mannequin’s 11-inch choice begins at $599 for the 128GB beginning capability, with upgraded storage choices out there. You could possibly get 256GB for $699, 512GB for $899, or 1TB of storage for $1,099.
The 13-inch model begins at $799 for the 128GB capability, making it $200 dearer. At 256GB, it is $899, with the 512GB at $1,099, and 1TB at $1,299.
Mobile upgrades are $150 throughout the board. This will push the worth of the sixth-gen fashions as much as $1,249 at the costliest 11-inch iPad Air, or $1,449 for the 13-inch iPad Air.
For colours, Apple decreased the vary for the sixth-gen, from 5 to 4.
The fifth-gen iPad Air has colorways in Area Grey, Starlight, Pink, Purple, and Blue. The sixth-gen go for Area Grey, Starlight, Purple, and Blue.
2024 iPad Air vs 2022 iPad Air – Must you improve?
It has been some time because the final iPad Air replace. However, regardless of the time between upgrades, there’s not a large quantity of modifications on show right here.
Between the ten.9-inch fifth-gen and the 11-inch sixth-gen fashions, you are principally taking a look at a chip improve from M1 to M2. There’s additionally the shift of the front-facing digicam to the lengthy axis like on the tenth technology iPad, in addition to help for a more moderen Apple Pencil.
House owners of earlier iPad Air fashions and folks wanting extra energy than the baseline iPad will discover it engaging. And, the brand new Apple Pencil paired with a 12.9-inch display screen that does not price $1299 are compelling as properly.
That stated, anybody who actually cares about pill efficiency can be wanting on the M4 iPad Professional lineup, not the Air household.
If measurement issues, then this together with the opposite updates could possibly be sufficient for a fifth-gen iPad Air proprietor to make the soar.
That measurement issues in some instances, each within the area you’re employed in and in worth. For some folks, the 13-inch iPad Air is an effective steadiness of options and worth, particularly for customers who will not be iPad-primary and like their iPhone or their Mac over an iPad.
2024 iPad Air vs 2022 iPad Air – The place to purchase