Apple iPad Air (2020) review: The best tablet for most people
Our Verdict
The iPad Air 4's screen, charging and functioning make it one of the best iPads ever, as information technology'southward essentially a more affordable iPad Pro.
For
- Elegant sparse and light design
- Super-fast A14 Bionic processor
- Bright, colorful and sharp display
- Excellent webcam
- USB-C charging
- Magic Keyboard and 2nd Gen Apple Pencil back up
Confronting
- No Face ID
- RIP headphone jack
- Expensive accessories
Tom'south Guide Verdict
The iPad Air four's screen, charging and operation make it one of the best iPads ever, equally it's essentially a more than affordable iPad Pro.
Pros
- +
Elegant thin and low-cal pattern
- +
Super-fast A14 Bionic processor
- +
Bright, colorful and abrupt display
- +
Excellent webcam
- +
USB-C charging
- +
Magic Keyboard and 2d Gen Apple Pencil support
Cons
- -
No Face ID
- -
RIP headphone jack
- -
Expensive accessories
iPad Air (2020) specs
Os: iPadOS 14
CPU: A14 Bionic
Storage: 64GB, 256GB
Display: 10.nine-inch (2360 x 1640 pixels) Liquid Retina
Rear cameras: 12MP wide (f/1.8)
Video: Upward to 4K at up to lx fps
Forepart camera: 7MP TrueDepth
Wireless: Wi-Fi 6, optional 4G LTE
Bombardment: 28.6 watt-hour
Battery life: 10:29 (tested)
Size: ix.7 ten 7 x 0.24 inches
Weight: 1 pound
Price: $599
The $599 Apple tree iPad Air (2020) occupies a whole new pricing tier between the $329 10.2-inch iPad 9 (2021) and the $799 iPad Pro 2021 (11-inch). It is a mid-range iPad option for those who desire Pro-level perks without the need to pay upward to a grand with the Magic Keyboard. But is this iPad groovy plenty to spend almost twice as much as you lot would on the standard iPad? I'd say then, as information technology's my new favorite iPad.
Not just does the 10.nine-inch iPad Air 4 impress with its flat-border design (which has the absurd colour options of the iPhone 12 in the beat of the 11-inch iPad Pro), but its Apple Pencil (second Gen) and Magic Keyboard support hateful it's more capable of replacing your laptop (provided you spend more for those accessories). It's also got speedy A14 Bionic operation and USB-C charging, two upgrades I wish the normal iPad could become.
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This iPad Air (2020) review will explicate how the tablet's only real downsides are comparative problems y'all might not notice otherwise. Its screen is bright and colorful, only competitors shine brighter and produce more color. Oh, and its long bombardment life is outpaced by two of its competitors — which include the normal iPad.
The Apple tree iPad Air 5 is rumored to arrive this Spring with a faster processor and improved cameras. So, should you purchase the iPad Air four? Here's everything to know about why Apple'southward latest iPad might exist its all-time yet.
iPad Air (2020) review: Release appointment and price
The iPad Air four came out on Fri, Oct. 23, 2020. It starts at $599 for the 64GB configuration, and you lot can upgrade to 256GB for $150 — which brings you to $749. LTE cellular connectivity costs $130 more, bringing the max cost to $879.
That price looks good adjacent to the iPad Pro, but some may experience sticker stupor if they remember how the iPad Air 3 was $499. Fortunately, we've started to see (pocket-size) sale pricing so far. Currently, Amazon has the best sale, bringing the iPad Air 2020 to $569!
iPad Air (2020) review: Design
The iPad Air four looks enough like an iPad Pro that it could fool y'all into thinking Apple tree just released new colorways of the 11-inch version of its high-finish iPad. It's bachelor in the green model we tested (a minty fresh choice I'd recommend), blue (which I wish I'd seen in person), rose gold, silverish and Space Gray.
Thinking nigh the iPad Air 4 as the successor to the iPad Air 3, you can meet how removing the dwelling house button from the lesser of the screen gave Apple the power to increase its screen size, as the iPad Air 4'southward x.9-inch screen is bigger than the iPad Air 3'due south ten.5-inch panel.
The other key differentiators are in its buttons and security measures. Apple opted to give the iPad Air 4 a Touch ID fingerprint scanner that's hidden within of its lock button. I adopt the iPad Air 4 to the Galaxy Tab S7 (which too puts its fingerprint sensor in its lock button), every bit Apple's button sticks out slightly, making it easier to detect visually. The Tab S7's fingerprint scanner is slightly recessed, making for a minor search mission each time.
The iPad Air 4 also dumps the Lightning port for USB-C, which volition help me cut down on the number of cables I utilize (retiring another Lightning cord for only my iPhone and AirPods). This is a welcome change and i I wish the regular iPad would also get.
The iPad Air 4 doesn't have a headphone jack, merely neither does the iPad Pro nor Tab S7. Apple's letting likewise many devices drinkable from the iPhone's fountain of 'courage,' and that's probably abrasive for those who haven't jumped to wireless headphones. And while I wish this trend would terminate, I dear my AirPods Pro and I've started to only go along my wired headphones continued to my podcast mic, the only device that truly needs them.
Measuring 9.seven 10 seven ten 0.two inches and weighing i pound even, the iPad Air 4 has the aforementioned measurements equally the xi-inch iPad Pro, while being slightly thinner and lighter than the x.ii-inch iPad (nine.eight x 6.8 ten 0.three inches, 1.1 pounds). The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 (10 x 6.5 ten 0.2 inches, 1.1 pounds) is also a touch heavier.
iPad Air (2020) review: Display
The iPad Air 4's screen is abrupt, but it could stand to be brighter. Watching a 4K version of the film Midsommar on the iPad Air 4, I saw plenty of detail when Florence Pugh's character hallucinated that her feet were fabricated of grass, with blades of grass weaving in and out and poking up. Color reproduction looked good when I watched a sneak preview for The Suicide Squad, where the reds and blues of Peacemaker'due south outfit practically popped off the screen.
Later on, I noticed a wide range of greens in the foliage surrounding the According to our Klein K10-A colorimeter, the iPad Air iv produces 102.9% of the sRGB colour spectrum, a rate that falls under both the Galaxy Tab S7'south ratings (111% on Natural mode, 152% on Bright) and the 122.9% from the 12.9-inch iPad Pro also. The regular iPad comes shut, at 97%.
The iPad Air 4 maxes out at 440 nits of brightness, a rating that'south good on its own, but outshined by its competitors. That includes even the normal iPad (484 nits), which is only slightly dimmer than the Milky way Tab S7 (499 nits). The iPad Pro (559 nits) gets even brighter.
In terms of sharpness, the iPad Air 4 has a 264ppi pixel density, which is the same rate as you observe in the normal iPad and the iPad Pro. The Tab S7's eleven-inch 2560 x 1600-pixel console has a density of 276 ppi, a hair better.
The other reason to go for the iPad Air 4 over the iPad is its screen has a few extra perks. Those include full lamination and an anti-reflective coating, so it'southward more than resistant to glare and fingerprints.
Watching a scene of the documentary Y'all Cannot Impale David Arquette, the hues of the histrion's pink and bluish luchador mask and tights stayed potent beyond the normal xxx degrees to the left and correct, and even stayed accurate when I turned the iPad Air iv 85 degrees to the side. And even in the darker scenes of this film, I saw much less of myself reflected in the tablet's screen than I had on the Galaxy Tab S7.
The iPad Air 4 doesn't offering the smoothness of 120Hz refresh rates that the iPad Pro and Tab S7 do. I don't think near folks outside of early on adopters will notice.
iPad Air (2020) review: Touch ID security
The iPad Air four feels near like a merger of the iPad and iPad Pro when information technology comes to the Touch ID fingerprint scanning power button. I don't know why Apple tree decided to non include the iPad Pro's Confront ID selfie camera, when the Air already has the tiny bezels that the iPad Pro fits that sensor into.
The Bear on ID sensor in the iPad Air 4 allows for fast hallmark when using Apple Pay and using passwords, merely I wish they hadn't ditched Face ID. Why? Well, the iPad Pro's facial recognition but works, provided your manus isn't roofing upward that camera (I've had that happen to me a number of times, though).
Either way, the iPad Air 4'south Touch ID power button is a peachy play a joke on, and pulled off amend than the Galaxy Tab S7's as I've said before. Samsung gets points here, though, by giving both facial and fingerprint recognition, when Apple only offers ane.
The iPad Air 4's fingerprint sensor looks like one way Apple could give its iPhone 13 a Touch on ID sensor if the company fails to embed the biometric scanner in its screen. The Touch ID sensor makes a lot more sense for the iPhone than it is an iPad, at least while we all go on to wearable face masks in public.
The iPad Air iv's A14 Bionic chip gives information technology a serious speed advantage over near tablets.
iPad Air (2020) review: A14 Bionic functioning
The iPad Air 4 runs on the A14 Bionic chip, which has a hexa-cadre CPU and a quad-core GPU, which combine to give it a serious speed reward over near tablets. I saw zero stutter under bones everyday usage — splitting its screen between 12 Safari tabs and a 1080p YouTube video (The Batman 2021 trailer) — with Tweetbot open in slide-over mode. With all of that going on, I opened an epitome in the Pixelmator Photo image editor, and saw its ML Super Resolution upwardly-rez'ing complete in less than 30 seconds.
The iPad Air four earned a 4,262 on the Geekbench 5 general benchmark, which beats its main competitor. The Galaxy Tab S7 (Snapdragon 865+) hit a mark of three,074 and the iPad 2020 (A12 Bionic) notched 2,685. The iPad Pro 2020 (A12Z Bionic) is the but model that did better, at 4,720.
The mobile racing game Asphalt 9: Legends ran super-smoothly on the iPad Air 4, as I collection a Mitsubishi lancer around a snowy loma. I saw nary a stutter or frame drop as I knocked cars off the road and sped through to the end line in first identify.
iPad Air (2020) review: Sound
The iPad Air iv'due south stereo speakers produce plenty sound to fill up not just my small-to-medium-sized habitation office, but too spill over sweet tunes to next rooms. As I listened to Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" on the tablet, Stevie Nicks' serene vocals filled the room around me, taking some of the stress out of my shoulders equally I noted the well-baked-hitting drum cymbals.
The big difference between the Air 4'south sound and the iPad Pro's sound is in its smarts. You'll get a true stereo audio experience on the Air iv in landscape mode, while the iPad Pro has a quad-speaker setup that allows you to consistently become stereo audio no matter which position it's in, every bit it's smart plenty to adjust to stereo when you lot've got the tablet in a vertical/portrait orientation.
iPad Air (2020) review: Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard
My favorite role of the iPad Air 4 is that it means you lot don't have to spend $800 to go to use (and buy) Apple's best iPad accessories. Let's start with the Apple Pencil 2nd Gen, which merely snaps to the acme edge of the iPad Air 4, and doesn't charge by plugging it into the port on the bottom edge (as the original Apple Pencil does with Lightning port-based iPads).
And that's important because iPadOS xiv gives you Scribble. Information technology's the ability to write into text fields with the Apple tree Pencil and take that handwriting turn into legit text. And information technology even works with my chicken-scratch.
Selling a keyboard for nearly the price of the entry-level iPad but doesn't feel right.
More chiefly, the iPad Air 4's back up for the Magic Keyboard means that typing on this iPad is equally piece of cake as on the iPad Pro. As I explained in my iPad Pro Magic Keyboard review, its keys make for a much more than comfy typing feel cheers to increased vertical travel, the movement that makes them experience like you're using a real keyboard, and non clicking the small sensors of the iPad Smart Keyboard Folio. The Magic Keyboard also wins considering information technology has a touchpad, which the Smart Keyboard e'er lacked — and which makes the iPad Air iv more like a real laptop.
I'grand plenty used to typing on the Magic Keyboard (the 2018 iPad Pro is becoming my main calculating device when I'one thousand off the clock), and hit 78 words per minute (with 97% accuracy) on my first try of the 10FastFingers typing test.
Frustratingly, the Magic Keyboard costs too much at $300. I don't know how Apple makes it, but selling a keyboard for nearly the price of the entry-level iPad just doesn't feel right. That being said, anyone considering the $179 Smart Keyboard Folio should really pony up the extra $121. It's that much amend of a typing experience. Samsung'due south Galaxy Tab S7 Bookcover Keyboard may also offer a touchpad, simply its number keys are small and its overall design is a clunky ii-piece blueprint that makes the Magic Keyboard's so-simple attach/disassemble process look even more than seamless than it already is.
One more thing virtually that Magic Keyboard, if you're waiting to buy one. We've learned that Apple tree seems to have a 2nd Gen Magic Keyboard, which would likely back up both the iPad Pro and Air, in the works.
The $129 Apple Pencil second Gen also is a bit besides pricey, and I wish they'd include it for free like Samsung does with the Milky way Tab S7'south S-Pen. That being said, the Apple Pencil ii feels a lot more substantial than the Due south-Pen. Again, though, practice not buy the $99 Apple tree Pencil 1 for the iPad Air iv, the extra $30 for the 2nd gen Pencil is more worth it. The Apple Pencil 1 isn't a good fit for the Air 4 as it tin't be plugged into the base of the iPad Air 4 without a USB-C to Lightning adapter.
iPad Air (2020) review: Cameras
Some people volition use the iPad Air iv every bit a camera, and who am I to say they shouldn't? Apple tree'south definitely encouraging tablet photography by giving the iPad Air a 12-megapixel wide bending webcam. That sensor did a adept task of capturing the reds and yellows of a gala apple I ate equally a mid-review snack, as well, as the browns, blues and blacks in the Persona 5 gift box I placed the apple upon.
The 7MP front-facing webcam provides sharp and authentic image captures, as I tested with a selfie in my living room. I actually thought it captured a bit too much item of my nose and peel.
Only and so I put the iPad Air iv to the ultimate work-from-home-exam, on a Google Meet call with my boss. After he said the video quality was "as good as, if non improve than, a real webcam," I continued an external Logitech C920 webcam to my work laptop and joined the telephone call from that device. Lo and behold, my dominate' judgment was proven correct, when he could see their image quality next. The iPad Air 4'due south camera captured stronger greens on my t-shirt and handled sources of light improve, assuasive them to illuminate backdrops instead of just render every bit blown-out white areas in photos.
Just like with the Galaxy Tab S7, the iPad Air 4's photographic camera bump protrudes a bit, and there's a fiddling back and forth rocking if you lay the tablet screen-up on a tabular array — the only way y'all e'er should.
iPad Air (2020) review: Bombardment life
The iPad Air 4 offers all-day battery life, going ten hours and 29 minutes on the Tom's Guide web-surfing-based bombardment test. That narrowly beats the iPad Pro (ten:sixteen), but the 10.2-inch iPad (12:57) and Samsung Milky way Tab S7 (13:xvi) lasted longer. That departure may mean you're going to charge the iPad Air four a little more often, only non by much.
iPad Air (2020) review: Verdict
When relatives and friends ask me what tablet to buy, I'chiliad telling them to get the iPad Air four. Information technology's not only faster and more stylish than the normal iPad, only the Magic Keyboard support means the iPad Air is finally a laptop beater. If its battery life was longer, or its display were brighter, Apple tree might take made the best tablet ever.
For longer battery life, you could get the Milky way Tab S7, which costs $50 more than or the much-cheaper iPad, but the iPad Air 4 beats both on speed. Those who want the brightest screen out there should check out the iPad Pro, merely y'all're spending $200 more to become there, and many might not observe the differences.
Overall, this iPad Air 4 review has shown why information technology's the best iPad out at that place, thanks to taking about of the iPad Pro features people volition actually appreciate, and making them bachelor to a wider audience.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/new-ipad-air-4
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