Well, it’s here – the most powerful iPad Air to date and we’ve got everything you need to know about it right here.
First up, it comes with an all new singing and dancing design that’s got a larger 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display, new 12MP rear camera and the next gen Touch ID sensor.
At Women Love Tech, we’re always making the case for more colourful tech products so we’re happy that the latest iPad comes in five finishes and it debuts the most powerful chip ever made by Apple.
Along with major upgrades to the iPad Pro and eighth-generation iPad this year, and the powerful new features of iPadOS 14, Apple says that this is the ‘strongest iPad lineup ever’.
iPad Air Design’s 5 Finishes
The finishes are silver, space grey, rose gold, green, and sky blue. The new all-screen design promises a high quality visual experience, with 3.8 million pixels and advanced technologies, including full lamination, P3 wide colour support, True Tone, and an anti-reflective coating.
iPad Air Touch ID sensor
To allow the display to extend on all sides, there is a more advanced Touch ID sensor which is integrated into the top button, allowing for quick and easy, and secure way to unlock it, log in to apps, or use Apple Pay. Compatible with Magic Keyboard and its floating design, and built-in trackpad, Smart Keyboard Folio, and new Smart Folio covers, as well as Apple Pencil, which attaches magnetically to the side for easy pairing, charging, and storing.
More about Apple’s most powerful chip
Expect more performance thanks to the A14 Bionic. This means it’s easier to edit 4K videos, create art, or play immersive games. Using breakthrough 5-nanometer process technology, A14 Bionic is packed with 11.8 billion transistors for increased performance and power efficiency in nearly every part of the chip.
Upgraded Camera and Immersive Audio
iPad Air, which includes a 7MP front-facing FaceTime HD camera, now features the same 12MP rear camera used in iPad Pro for higher resolution photos and 4K video capture. The new design of iPad Air features stereo speakers in landscape mode, elevating the audio experience so users can enjoy wider stereo sound while watching video.
iPad Air now features a USB-C port for up to 5Gbps data transfer, which is 10 times faster, for connecting to cameras, hard drives, and external monitors up to 4K. With Wi-Fi 6 performance and 60 percent faster LTE connectivity, along with A14 Bionic, this is by far the most powerful iPad Air ever.
Scribble And The Apple Pencil
iPadOS 14 also brings Scribble to iPad, allowing Apple Pencil users to handwrite directly in any text field, making actions like replying to a quick iMessage or searching in Safari fast and easy — all without ever needing to put Apple Pencil away. Scribble uses on-device machine learning to convert handwriting into typed text in real time, so writing is always kept private and secure.
iPadOS 14 – New Features
- New compact designs for incoming FaceTime and phone calls, Siri interactions, and Search to help users stay focused on the task at hand.
- Universal Search to quickly find practically anything, from locating and launching apps, to accessing contacts, files, and information, to getting answers to common questions about people or places.
- New sidebars for many apps including Photos and Files, and streamlined toolbars that consolidate controls into a single place, making them more useful than ever.
- Beautifully redesigned widgets that present timely information at a glance right on the Home Screen.
Most Environmentally Friendly iPad Lineup Ever
Remember Apple’s plan to become carbon neutral by 2030? Well, you’ll be pleased to hear the iPad Air uses a 100 percent recycled aluminium enclosure and 100 percent recycled tin for the solder on its main logic board. The new speakers in iPad Air also use magnets with 100 percent recycled rare earth elements. iPad Air remains free of harmful substances, is highly energy efficient, and uses wood fibre packaging that is recycled or comes from responsibly managed forests.
Plenty of ticks here.
Pricing and Availability
- The new iPad Air will be available starting next month on apple.com/au and in the Apple Store app in 30 countries and regions, including Australia. Wi-Fi models of iPad Air will be available with a starting price of RRP A$899 inc. GST and Wi-Fi + Cellular models start at RRP A$1,099 inc. GST. The new iPad Air, in 64GB and 256GB configurations, will be available in five beautiful finishes including silver, space grey, rose gold, green, and sky blue.
- iPadOS 14, the powerful operating system designed specifically for iPad, ships for free with the new eighth-generation iPad and new iPad Air, and will be available as a free software update tomorrow for all iPad Pro models, iPad Air 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, and iPad mini 4 and later.
- Apple Pencil (2nd generation), available for purchase separately for RRP A$199 inc. GST, is compatible with iPad Air.
- Magic Keyboard and the Smart Keyboard Folio for iPad Air are available for purchase separately for RRP A$499 inc. GST and RRP A$269 inc. GST, respectively, both with layouts for over 30 languages, including simplified Chinese, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish.
- Smart Folios are available for iPad Air for RRP A$119 inc. GST in black, white, and three new seasonal colours including deep navy, cyprus green, and pink citrus.
- Special deals for students. For more information, visit apple.com/au-hed/shop.