iPad Air (2024) 13-Inch Review

new iPad Pro It attracted a lot of attention in Apple event on May 7th. The M4 chip and OLED display are exciting upgrades. It’s powerful (and expensive) enough to almost seriously compete with Macbooks. On the other hand, the iPad Air still has a lot to improve, especially for those who have been waiting nearly two years to upgrade.

The new feature here is the new 13-inch size. Since its launch in 2013, iPad Air has been available in sizes smaller than 11 inches. This is the first iPad Pro-sized iPad Air. Apple said the inspiration came from the 13-in. The iPad Pro accounts for about 50% of iPad sales.

of The 13-inch Air retails for $800.and the 11-inch model costs $600You can also get a 128GB base model for the same price as the 64GB base model of the M1 iPad Air. It’s impressive enough that they didn’t increase prices to account for inflation, material cost increases, and chip upgrades. Still, the fact that the base model now offers twice the storage for the same price is even better.

Another exciting change seen across the new iPad series is that the front-facing camera is now landscape instead of portrait. This makes Facetiming him look a little less awkward in landscape mode.

iPad Air M2 13-inch display and design

stationary led

The iPad Air’s display hasn’t had any exciting updates this generation. It’s still Liquid Retina LED with a 60Hz refresh rate and 2732 x 2048 resolution. The 13-inch model has a peak brightness of 600 nits, while the maximum brightness drops to 500 nits on the 11-inch iPad.I saw a lot ashley madison I was watching a Netflix documentary (which I found very unpleasant, by the way), and the brightness was decent enough for me to watch it during the day while sitting next to my large bedroom window. many The light in the bedroom, as well as the sun, was pretty bright. At my workplace the indoor lighting is pretty dim so this is a lot better. Reading on the beach could be an issue though.

The colors weren’t very impressive, and the contrast wasn’t particularly impressive either. It didn’t have as much clarity or depth, especially when compared to the OLED iPad Pro. If you are not in a situation where you are fighting against glare, there should be no problem if you look at it casually on a daily basis.

The strange thing about the iPad Air is that it no longer lives up to its name. The M4 iPad Pro is actually light and thin at 5.1mm. At 6.1mm thick, the iPad Air is noticeably thicker than the new Pro, and weighs a whopping 36 grams more, which isn’t very Air-like.

Touch ID is the only way to log in with the power button (other than using a passcode). Reaching for the power button every time can be a pain and can get messy with greasy fingers. I wish this had Face ID.

iPad Air M2 13-inch performance and battery life

Expected upgrade from M1, but nothing special

The M2 iPad Air’s performance upgrades are also fairly barebones. The M2 chip won’t support the fancy Neural Engine features or ray tracing promised by the iPad Pro’s M4. It has an 8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores, a 10-core GPU, and a 16-core neural engine, although the latter isn’t powerful enough for complex AI tasks.

The M1 iPad Air scored 7,252 points in the Geekbench CPU test, while the M2 iPad Air reached a maximum of 9,993 points. It was pretty smooth to use for everyday productivity tasks and to stream YouTube videos. Of course, there were no hiccups or stutters. This is still an M-series chip, after all, and that’s not a bad thing.

However, as mentioned above, while there is a slight performance increase, it’s not a huge leap from the previous generation, especially when it comes to the maximum performance you need. There’s not much incentive to upgrade from the last Air, which seems pretty boring in front of the feature-packed iPad Pro that’s better suited for creative workloads.

The camera resolution is the same as the 2022 iPad Air, with one 12MP wide rear camera and one 12MP ultra-wide front lens. The new horizontal position of the front camera is a welcome change. It was much better not to look like you were staring into space when FaceTiming in landscape mode. I rarely use the iPad’s rear camera, but it’s still a shame there isn’t a better camera.

The two landscape stereo speakers on either side of this iPad are powerful enough to fill a room when turned up to maximum volume. I didn’t have to reach for my earphones while watching Netflix. I miss the days when I could connect my old headphones to my iPad. Now that the 3.5mm port has been discontinued, I’m grateful the speakers are decent, as I’m tired of connecting the buds via Bluetooth to listen to music or chat.

Apple promises 10 hours of battery life on Wi-Fi and 9 hours on cellular data. I’ve been using the Air for daily notes, Netflix, Instagram, and YouTube for about a week now, and I’m getting just over 8 hours of battery life on Wi-Fi.

iPad Air M2 13-inch verdict

Shut up this generation.

With new squeeze and barrel roll functions, Improved Pencil Pro It makes drawing much easier (and more fun). I’m not an artist, but I had so much fun using the Pencil Pro that I decided to give it a try.

This iPad isn’t interesting enough to replace my M1 iPad Air. However, if you have an older A-chip iPad, it makes sense to upgrade. We also don’t recommend this if you’re looking for a hardcore machine that can handle it all. That’s what the iPad Pro is for. The M1 iPad Air is very easy to inherit. The upgrades aren’t all that exciting, and nothing you see here is present in the Pro. If anything, the lighter, slimmer Pro looks more like the iPad Air than the actual iPad Air itself.

For $1300, 13 inch pro It’s obviously much more expensive than the $800 Air, so it’s definitely an investment you should consider. But for at least $500 more, you’re guaranteed a powerful M4 chip, a beautiful OLED display, and other top-of-the-line specs. If your budget doesn’t allow for it, check out what 2025 has in store for you. However, if you upgrade from a 2022 iPad to this year’s iPad, you might be disappointed.