At the “Peek Performance” event, along with the new iPhone SE with 5G support, Apple has also launched the fifth-generation iPad Air. While the design of the latest tablet from the company remains the same as its predecessor, the internals has been updated.
Keeping the iPad Pro-like design, the new iPad Air features a 10.9-inch display that offers a peak brightness of 500 nits along with HDR support. Under the hood, it is powered by the Apple Silicon’s M1 processor, the same one that powers the latest iPad Pro. This eight-core CPU is claimed to be 60 percent faster than the Apple A14 Bionic processor and has two times the graphics power.
In the camera department, there’s a 12-megapixel rear camera on the tablet, the same as the last time. But the front-facing camera has been upgraded to 12-megapixel from 7-megapixel and it now supports Apple’s Center Stage feature that’s designed to automatically keep the user in the frame during video calls.
The iPad Air also comes packed with landscape stereo speakers. It power button on the device also has a Touch ID built into it for biometric security.
The company has added that the tablet is compatible with the $129 Apple Pencil as well as the $299 Magic Keyboard. It will also work with the $179 Smart Keyboard Folio and $79 Smart Folio covers.
The new Apple iPad Air with M1 processor has a starting price of $599 for the Wi-Fi-only model, which rises to $749 for the Wi-Fi and cellular version. The company is offering a choice between 64GB and 256GB of internal storage and five colors — Gray, Pink, Purple, Blue, and Starlight. It will be available for pre-orders from 11th March and will go on sale from 18th March.
