Apple updated the iPad Air with a new all-screen design this year. The company unveiled the new design at its September event which also included the introduction of new Apple Watch(es) and the company’s new subscription based fitness service.
The new iPad Air features a design akin to the iPad Pro. However, the bezels on the new iPad Air are slightly thicker compared to the iPad Pro’s as it is priced lower than the iPad Pro. The new iPad Air starts at $599 (USD) whereas the iPad Pro continues to cost $799 for the base model.
Major new improvements
On the front, Apple packs a 10.9” display on the iPad Air with a resolution of 2360×1640. The screen has 264 pixels per inch (ppi) with support for P3 wide color gamut. The display is also true tone supported meaning when the feature is enabled, the temperature of the screen will change automatically based on the lighting of the room.
Apple finally removed the Home Button from the iPad Air and now packs a fingerprint reader on the Power Button at the top. The power button also known as the sleep/wake button now packs the same TouchID technology but it now features a smaller footprint. Some tech YouTubers have mentioned that the new TouchID does not quickly recognize the fingerprint in some cases, maybe due the smaller size of the reader.
The 2020 iPad Air was the first device to pack Apple’s latest A14 Bionic chip. The company usually unveils a new iPhone with a new processor but this year, due to slight delays in the release of the new iPhones, the iPad Air took the new chip first. The A14 Bionic is the first 5nm chip which is commercially available. It also packs a Neural Engine – a dedicated neural network which can reportedly perform 11 trillion operations per second.
The new iPad Air starts at $599 and it brings a lot of features from the iPad Pro such as the nearly all-screen design for a much lower price tag. The 2020 iPad Air is a great device for the price. However, if you require more performance and some unique features such as FaceID, 120Hz display, consider the iPad Pro which starts at $799.
