Ipad air (2022)

3 min read

An incremental upgrade, but a welcome one – thanks to the M1

>From £569 FROM Apple, apple.com/uk FEATURES 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display with True Tone, M1 chip, 64 or 256GB of storage, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi+Cellular option, USB-C port, 12MP Wide camera (rear), 12MP Ultra Wide camera (front)

The fifth-gen iPad Air retains all the things you loved about the previous generation, including its flat-sided design, 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display and Apple Pencil support.

Everything feels slightly slicker, quicker and smoother on the M1-powered Air, than on the A14 Bionic version

When the fourth-gen iPad Air arrived in 2020, it marked a remarkable shift in design and ambition for Apple’s mid-tier tablet. Its all-screen, f lat-sided design not only aped the premium iPad Pro, but it came packed with features, while also replacing the previous model’s Lightning port with USB-C and shifting Touch ID from the now-removed Home button to the Power button. It was a remarkable makeover – and one we were happy to give five stars and an Editor’s Choice award to. Now its successor, the new fifth-gen iPad Air on test here, shifts the dial in small but significant ways.

Outwardly, little has changed. The iPad Air (2022) retains the design of the previous generation, although it now comes in new colours – Space Grey, Starlight, Pink, Purple and a deeper shade of Blue. The entry-level Wi-Fi-only model is also £10 cheaper than the model it replaces, at £569 with 64GB of onboard storage. The step-up 256GB model costs £719, again a £10 saving.

As before, the iPad Air is also available in Wi-Fi+Cellular variants, which cost £719 for 64GB of storage and £869 for 256GB, although both models now include 5G connectivity rather than the 4G they had before.

At those prices, the iPad Air (2022) comes within touching distance of the Wi-Fi-only 11-inch iPad Pro, which costs £749 with 128GB of storage and £849 for 256GB. The 11-inch iPad Pro offers a wider choice of storage options than the iPad Air (2022) does though, topping out at 2TB for £1,749.

The iPad Air/iPad Pro comparison is an apt one given the two models’ similarity in terms of design and features – especially now the iPad Air (2022) also includes an Apple silicon M1 chip with an 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU and 16-core Neural Engine. All that plus a faster 20W USB-C port and an improved 12MP Ultra Wide front camera with Centre Stage – like the iPad Pro. And like the iPad Pro, the iPad Air (2022) can also be teamed with the second-gen Apple Pencil (£119) and Magic Keyboard (£279), making it a compact and lightweight alternative to a MacBook Air when it comes to staying productive on the go. There are still some notable differences, though, as you’ll see from our benchmarks.