Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPad Air 5 Reviews: Great Value With M1 Chip at $599 Starting Price

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
67,584
37,975


The new fifth-generation iPad Air will begin arriving to customers on Friday and, ahead of time, the first hands-on reviews of the device have surfaced. We've rounded up some of the reviews and unboxing videos below.

Air-2022-M1-Feature.jpg

Key new features of the iPad Air include the same M1 chip found in the iPad Pro, 5G connectivity on cellular models, an upgraded 12-megapixel front camera with support for Center Stage, up to a 2x faster USB-C port for data transfer, and new color options. Pricing continues to start at $599 in the U.S. for 64GB of storage.

Overall, the new iPad Air remains a great value, with performance now on par with the iPad Pro thanks to the M1 chip and other Pro-like features.

M1 Chip

Geekbench 5 benchmark results that surfaced earlier this week confirmed that the M1 chip is not downclocked in the new iPad Air, resulting in the device having virtually identical performance as the iPad Pro.

Nevertheless, several reviewers pointed out that iPadOS makes it challenging to take advantage of the performance capabilities.

The Verge's Dan Seifert:
If you're using the iPad for things like browsing the web, reading books, watching movies or TV shows, or even light productivity, you won't likely notice the extra performance headroom the M1 chip provides. It mostly shines when doing especially demanding tasks, like editing and exporting 4K video or managing large file transfers. The Air is capable of doing those jobs, but there are better tools available if that's what you intend to do that don't have the limitations of iPadOS and a relatively small screen.
Click to expand...
5G

The iPad Air now supports 5G networks on Wi-Fi + Cellular models, but not faster mmWave 5G like the iPad Pro does.

CNET's Scott Stein tested 5G on the new iPad Air:
This iPad doesn't support mmWave, just sub-6 5G. Effectively, at many times, it feels similar to LTE: Speeds at my home were around 290 megabits per second on Verizon, while in Washington Square Park in New York speeds were only around 60Mbps to 80Mbps.
Click to expand...
Center Stage Camera

With an upgraded 12-megapixel front camera, the new iPad Air is the last iPad to gain support for Center Stage, a feature that helps keep you and anyone else with you in the frame as you move around during video calls. Center Stage is available for FaceTime calls and in supported third-party video calling apps, such as Zoom.

TechCrunch's Matthew Panzarino:
The front camera has gotten a 12MP upgrade too – and is definitely improved from the previous Air. Facetime gets that nice Center Stage enhancement we saw come through on the iPad Pros last year too. As I said in my review of those this is a pretty huge quality of life improvement for those who video chat a lot as the auto-crop and tracking feature mitigates the odd left hand side placement of the camera when the iPad Air is in landscape mode. The angles feel more natural and less awkward overall. The color and contrast of the video call quality is improved as well.
Click to expand...
More Reviews
Videos










Article Link: iPad Air 5 Reviews: Great Value With M1 Chip at $599 Starting Price
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/review/ipad-air-2022/
So, a spec bump that keeps it from feeling outdated.

Nothing wrong with that, but nothing to get excited about IMHO. It’s like when the MacBook airs and pros in the early 2010s got their annual spec bump. Good news if it’s time to upgrade, nothing to worry about if you have last year’s model.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Shirasaki, SFjohn, three and 2 others
Honestly, there is no such thing as processor overkill or too much power. I have some apps and games that stutter or take a while to open on iPad Air 4. There are also a lot of re-loading apps, likely due to ram limitations.

I traded in my Air for $335 and paid $214 for the new one. $214 to upgrade to a desktop level processor, Center Stage HD camera, and 8 gigabytes of ram. That's not bad. I can either keep it long term or spend another $200 in a couple years to upgrade again.

Apple stuff is expensive, but no one ever mentions resale when they talk about that.
 
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: ConvertedToMac, amartinez1660, Shirasaki and 12 others
kjvmartin2 said:
Honestly, there is no such thing as processor overkill or too much power. I have some apps and games that stutter or take a while to open on iPad Air 4. There are also a lot of re-loading apps, likely due to ram limitations.

I traded in my Air for $335 and paid $214 for the new one. $214 to upgrade to a desktop level processor, Center Stage HD camera, and 8 gigabytes of ram. That's not bad. I can either keep it long term or spend another $200 in a couple years to upgrade again.

Apple stuff is expensive, but no one ever mentions resale when they talk about that.
Click to expand...
apple resale not much better compare than others, take a look at the used iphone or watch market.
 
  • Disagree
  • Like
Reactions: Agit21, Shirasaki, D_J and 2 others
Viticci said it best in this review

"Now that the iPad Air also has the M1, I’m here, once again, writing the same things over and over: everything is plenty fast on this iPad, but you can never shake the feeling that Apple imposed a virtual cap on the platform’s performance and flexibility and that, so far, the M1 has meant very little for the evolution of the iPadOS platform. At this point, I look at it this way: I can buy a $999 MacBook Air with the M1, 8 GB of RAM, and 256 GB of storage and get access to features such as more advanced multitasking, background utilities, extended display mode, and all kinds of system-wide customizations; an iPad running the same configuration is still limited to two apps in Split View, Slide Over, and basic external display mirroring."

www.macstories.net

iPad Air 2022 Review: Refined Balance

The last time I wrote about the iPad Air in October 2020, I explained how its fourth-generation model intrigued me again. A year and a half later, here I am, once again fascinated by the iPad Air, captivated by its hybrid nature caught between a base model iPad and the aspirations of an iPad Pro.
www.macstories.net www.macstories.net
 
  • Like
Reactions: freedomlinux, Agit21, Shirasaki and 9 others
ilikewhey said:
lets be honest really no one is going to go for the base 64gb, after system allocations and what not you be left with not much storage.

at 700 price point you might as well pony up 50 bucks and get the pro.
Click to expand...
I suspect that the 64 GB model will be the best selling one. Not to the typical person who hangs around here, but to the general public that go for the cheapest option.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mel823, D_J, G5isAlive and 6 others
el-John-o said:
I say this as an owner of an M1 iPad Pro; the Air makes so much more sense.

iOS limiting the potential of the M1 chip is a real issue; but it's much less of an issue at the $599 price point.
Click to expand...
Only makes more sense if 64GB storage is enough for you. The minute you need to step up to the next storage tier, the Pro is a better value.

iPad Air 256GB - $749
iPad Pro 11" 128Gb - $799
iPad Pro 11" 256GB - $899

There isn't much price difference between the iPad Air 5 256GB and the those 2 iPad Pro models.
 
  • Like
Reactions: el-John-o, Agit21, amartinez1660 and 4 others
dj458 said:
All the YouTub reviewers are basically reading scripts from companies about their reviews! They are not trustworthy at all!
Click to expand...
I’d say it depends of the tech reviewer. Many of them are biased, but you can still find honest reviews with constructive criticism of tech products. I’m pretty sure that Apple NDAs allows criticism, it’s not a straight up script as you pretend it is
 
  • Like
Reactions: coachingguy, JDnLex and TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back