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iPad Air Air 3 vs. Air 4

nburwell

nburwell

macrumors 603
Original poster
May 6, 2008
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I’ve been going back and forth on this and I wanted to get the opinions of those who made the switch. Was it worth it? Do you wish you kept your Air 3?

For context, I primarily use my Air 3 for streaming (Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, etc.). Other uses are light web browsing, iMessage, reading (NYT, WSJ and The Athletic) and some social media via Twitter and Reddit.

My main gripe is the battery — it’s pretty good. But with all the video streaming I’m doing, I’m essentially charging my Air 3 each night. From what I read, the Air 4 has the same battery, so I doubt I’d see any improvement in the battery based on my uses.

I don’t mind the forehead and chin of the Air 3, but the all screen design of the 4 is very appealing — especially when I consume a lot of media.

I know I’m trying to talk myself into the purchase, but ideally I’d like to hear from those who upgraded and what their thoughts are.
 
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I just made this same upgrade. I bought the ipad Air 3 when it came out and just recently replaced with the Air 4 2 weeks ago. I have a similar use case as you (media consumption, reading, some writing with a bluetooth keyboard) and Im not going to lie to you, the Air 4 does the same things as the Air 3 but it’s slightly nice. I was not a fan of the chins so am happy those are gone, music/media sounds better coming from both sides of the device, the virtual keyboard has more buttons, and plus, getting a new device with a new battery and new 1 year warranty is always helpful. I traded in my device to apple for 275, a little over half the price I got it 2 years ago, which I figured was a decent trade off. One thing I do miss is the AUX connection but most of my devices have bluetooth anyway. Should you upgrade? Maybe. If the little things are worth it to you. For me, that answer was yes
 
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Probably you don’t need it, but it’s a luxury you want and is OK if that will make you happy. I would prefer to save it for a more serious upgrade maybe next year or on another department like phone, watch, etc.

Maybe if you were a heavy user of the pencil, just maybe.


btw, not an air 4 owner just went see those at the store and play a bit with
 
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Jnyapplthief said:
I just made this same upgrade. I bought the ipad Air 3 when it came out and just recently replaced with the Air 4 2 weeks ago. I have a similar use case as you (media consumption, reading, some writing with a bluetooth keyboard) and Im not going to lie to you, the Air 4 does the same things as the Air 3 but it’s slightly nice. I was not a fan of the chins so am happy those are gone, music/media sounds better coming from both sides of the device, the virtual keyboard has more buttons, and plus, getting a new device with a new battery and new 1 year warranty is always helpful. I traded in my device to apple for 275, a little over half the price I got it 2 years ago, which I figured was a decent trade off. One thing I do miss is the AUX connection but most of my devices have bluetooth anyway. Should you upgrade? Maybe. If the little things are worth it to you. For me, that answer was yes
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Appreciate the insight here. The little things aren't going to make a huge difference for me at the end of the day, so it definitely makes more sense to stick with the 3 and wait to see what new iPad's come out this year and 2022.
 
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Yeah id wait it out. It looks like the 11 inch pro will be discontinued later in the year and the air 5 will become what the pro is now with the less chunky bezels, 4 speakers maybe pro motion etc.

I know I may get some flack for this but I feel apple have purposely made the bezels on the air 4 thicker to make it look less premium than the pro. So in my mind the air 4 is a compromise in design, whereas the air 3 (when that design was for the pro models) was not a compromise.
 
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fromsixtozero said:
Depends on if you prefer a white spot (air 3) or backlight bleed (air4). Joking of course, but I would upgrade to a pro 2018 or 2020 or possibly air 5 later this year.
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If streaming movies is a big part of usage I think a white spot would be less visable than backlight bleeding. 😌
 
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I got both the Air 3 and Air 4, and the Air 4 is definitely an upgrade with it basically being a Ipad Pro 2018 without 120 mhz Pro-motion, so it has the flat edge design with a larger minimum bezel 10.9" screen, USB C, Power button Touch ID, 5nm A14 bionic and proper landscape stereo speakers. It can also use the Pencil 2, and Magic Keyboard. The different colour options are also nice have.

Having said that, the Air 3 has the headphone jack which is more useful on a ipad especially when its used for heavy media consumption like streaming videos etc, and the A12 is still plenty powerful. It also has a laminated, P3 wide colour screen like the Air 4.
 
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Seanm87 said:
I know I may get some flack for this but I feel apple have purposely made the bezels on the air 4 thicker to make it look less premium than the pro. So in my mind the air 4 is a compromise in design, whereas the air 3 (when that design was for the pro models) was not a compromise.
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I definitely agree with you here. I'm not a huge fan of the thicker bezels on the Air 4 compared to that of the Pro models.
 
Tsepz said:
Don’t think so but considering we had a iPad Air 2019 and Air 2020, I think a 2021 should be on the cards. (channels inner Jon Prosser....but with eyebrows)
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And the last Air before that was like 2014? iPad updates tend to be sporadic. The only model that seems to be like clockwork is the entry level iPad which has release a new model every Spring for a few straight years now. Other models have been more like 18-24 months, and the Air 4 is only 5 months old, so it could be a pretty long wait.
 
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joeblow7777 said:
And the last Air before that was like 2014? iPad updates tend to be sporadic. The only model that seems to be like clockwork is the entry level iPad which has release a new model every Spring for a few straight years now. Other models have been more like 18-24 months, and the Air 4 is only 5 months old, so it could be a pretty long wait.
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The Air branding may have only been recently revived but in practice, the iPad Pro 9.7 and 10.5 took the place of the Air. Well, at least before Apple jacked entry level iPad Pro pricing up to $800 in 2018. Iirc, they actually kept selling the Pro 10.5 even after the 2018 Pro 11's introduction and only discontinued it when they released the Air 3.
 
I have an Air 3 with a similar use case, and I don't see the value in the upgrade. Certainly, the speed difference between A12 and A14 wouldn't matter, and the rated battery life is the same. The stereo speakers in landscape might be nice I guess. If your current battery is pretty degraded, then maybe you'd see an improvement just by starting with a fresh battery?
 
I do exact what you do with iPad plus gaming. I can only kill the battery in a day only if I game. I do think you'll see a slightly better battery performance cuz its new.
One big improvement I'd say considering you do consume a lot of media is that air 4 has duo speakers. Otherwise, air 4 just does everything slightly better than the air 3(I actually did a comparison side by side when I first got it. apps and web pages load just a bit faster and the air 3 was never slow to begin with). and of course, a new design.
 
MRISX said:
on which department is the majot upgrade? Wondering since I have a air 3 and couldnt find it...certainly looks a bit nicer.
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air 4 has the A14 vs A12 it all so has the new wifi 6 and the new apple UI that you find on the iPhone 10 11 and 12 models so that too me for the apple iPad air is a major upgrade over the iPad Air 3
 
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Everyone have their priorities, but for me the only real upgrades of the Air 4 are USB C and pencil and to some extend, speakers (even if they are no pro speakers). They are big upgrades in my book however, but YMMV
 
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joeblow7777 said:
It’s like a fraction of an inch on each side. Only 1/10 of an inch of the entire surface area.
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Right?! I have an iPad Air 4 and the slightly thicker bezels are barely noticeable. I think it would be noticeable if you held the Air side by side with a Pro but it’s not unbearable.
 
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